Asira Tarannum (MID-DAY; May 19, 2015)

Filmmaker Vikram Bhatt has sought police action against a production company which allegedly has not paid him, his father and a handful of technicians, who worked in three films. He says that the company recently distributed a Punjabi film with an investment of nearly Rs 1 crore, but has withheld payment of those associated with their previous projects.

Says Vikram, “I had to spend money from my pocket to complete two films and they owe me more than Rs 2 crore. My father, Pravin Bhatt is 78 years old and had worked as the DoP for both projects. He is yet to be paid Rs 20 lakh. Many other workers are waiting for their dues to be cleared too.”

The company was apparently formed by three persons, of whom one Ajay Bishnoi Vikram from Chennai was the most active. Vikram functioned as its creative director till 2013. “But 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 a lot of issues. Techpro apparently has taken a bank loan of Rs 5000 crore,” he adds.

ASA was supposed to finance Bhaag Johnny, Creature and Hate Story 2 last year, but Vikram ended up putting in his own money. “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. He even wanted me to take her in the all films and we had a fight over it,” he adds.

Vikram says he lodged the complaint three months ago after getting threat calls, but the case is yet to see any progress. Inspector of Versova police station Ravi Tendle, however, states, “We have informed Vikram Bhatt that it is a civil matter and he needs to go to the civil court.”

Ajay Bishnoi and his brother Anju did not respond to our calls.