Filmmaker Vikram Bhatt has lodged a complaint against a production company which has allegedly not paid him, his father and a handful of technicians who worked in three films.
According to Vikram, the company recently distributed a Punjabi film with an investment of nearly Rs 1 crore but has not cleared dues of those associated with their previous projects. Vikram informs, “The company owes me more than Rs 2 crore. I had to spend money from my pocket to complete two films. My father Pravin Bhatt who had worked as a DoP for both projects is yet to be paid Rs 20 lakh and several others are waiting for their dues to be cleared too.”
Vikram had worked as a creative director for the company which was formed by three people including Ajay Bishnoi. “I wasn’t looking after the finances. In 2007, there was a raid on ASA’s mother company Techpro and since then, it started facing lot of issues. Techpro apparently has taken a bank loan worth Rs 5000 crore,” explains Vikram.
Since ASA wasn’t able to finance Bhaag Johnny, Creature 3D and Hate Story 2 last year, Vikram produced the films on his own. “If they can invest money in a Punjabi film, why can’t they pay my workers? I believe they have also started a film in Chennai with Laxmi Rai and heard that Bishnoi gave money to a small-time actress to buy a flat. Bishnoi wanted me to cast the actress in all the films and we had a fight over it,” he adds.
Vikram had lodged a police complaint after receiving threat calls but there has been no progress on the case so far. Inspector of Versova Police station Ravi Tendle was quoted as saying, “We have informed Vikram that it’s a civil matter and he needs to go to the civil court.”
