President of the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE), Birendra Nath Tiwari, stated on Friday that veteran film producer Vashu Bhagnani’s production house has outstanding dues amounting to more than Rs. 65 lakh. Of the total amount, Bhagnani’s Pooja Entertainment owes Rs. 33.13 lakh to director Tinu Desai for the 2023 Akshay Kumar-starrer Mission Raniganj, while Rs. 31.78 lakh is owed to over 250 set workers who contributed to Mission Raniganj, Ganapath (2023), and Bade Miyan Chote Miyan. 

“A written complaint was filed by the director of Mission Raniganj regarding non-payment of his dues last year in March. We’ve been following up with Pooja Entertainment, but still they haven’t made the payment. They’ve said they will clear the dues by July end,” Tiwari told PTI, adding that IFTDA wrote several letters to the production house, but they kept delaying the payment.

“In February, they sought time to pay, citing Jackky Bhagnani’s (actor-producer) wedding. After FWICE wrote them a letter in March, they again sought time to make the payment after the release of their film, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan; that did not happen,” he added.

We reached out to Bhagnani, but he was unavailable for comment till the time of going to press.