Mazda Theatres, the company that owns Grant Road’s Naaz building, owes BMC Rs 4 crore. The building houses offices of top distributors and exhibitors, including Sholay producer G P Sippy, Mukta Arts’ branch office, Rahul Haksar’s Janta Film Distributors and offices of Ramesh Sippy of Raksha films
Tanvi Deshpande (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 1, 2018)

Grant Road’s iconic Naaz building, home to Bollywood’s top distributors and exhibitors, was sealed on Saturday for non-payment of property tax worth over Rs 4 crore.

This follows the sealing of the adjacent Naaz cinema, a piece of Mumbai’s film history, a month ago for the same reason.

Mazda Theatres, the company that owns Naaz, owes the BMC Rs 4.1 crore in property tax.

Sources said Mazda Theatres is in the process of selling the building. This, however, could not be independently confirmed.

The premises was also home to a crèche and Cafe Naaz, a restaurant. While both the crèche and the restaurant shut down a long time ago, the movie theatre screened movies till 2012.

Currently, the compound holds the commercial building, a temple and a school.

On December 3, the BMC issued Mazda Theatres a demand notice of Rs 4.13 crore in pending property tax dues.

The order to seal the theatre was issued by the additional municipal commissioner on February 16 and was executed in the first week of March. On Saturday, the BMC’s assessment and collection department sealed the commercial building’s main entrance.

“As per procedure, when dues were not paid within three weeks, we decided to seal the other building today,” confirmed Assistant Municipal Commissioner, D ward, V P Mote.

Naaz cinema, and the commercial building attached to it, hark back to an era when single screen theatres ruled the scene.

The building houses offices of top distributors and exhibitors, including Sholay producer G P Sippy’s production banner, Mukta Arts’ branch office, Rahul Haksar’s Janta Film Distributors, offices of Ramesh Sippy of Raksha films, N N Sippy’s production house now run by Pravesh Sippy, and Bharat Shah’s distribution company.

“The BMC notice states that the dues are pending for 20 years but the owners kept us in the dark. We have been paying our rent duly along with taxes, it is the owner who has defaulted,” Ramesh Sippy told Mumbai Mirror on Saturday.

A representative of Bharat Shah’s company, who did not wish to be named, said: “The BMC is hand-in-glove. But this time, since they are lagging in collection of property tax, they decided to take action. We have been here for the past 20 years.”

Rajeev Anand, son of R P Anand, who owns the building, said he had replied to the notice issued in December and the matter is now with the Urban Development department. “Why has the BMC suddenly decided to take action? My father is 85 and I am also unwell. Now they are putting pressure on me through the tenants. I need some time.”

Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 19, 2014)

Ram Gopal Varma, the name is always trailed by controversy, and this time there are angry creditors joining in.

Buzz is, RGV (as he is fondly called) is neck deep in debts, and that has caused his recent exit from the public eye.

The flak received for his Twitter comments on the Ganesh Chaturthi festivities too has compounded his decision to remain incommunicado, reveal sources close to the director.

A friend of the producer-director says, "He does not use his Andheri office anymore. He has been in Hyderabad the past few months making a Telugu film. He had promised to be back in August but didn't show up. His recent tweets came out of the blue and sent everybody here into a tizzy."

Mirror has it that the residents of the Yari Road apartment complex where the filmmaker stays, were embarrassed when cops stationed themselves at the gate, fearing trouble.

Today, not just his friends but even his creditors are curious about his whereabouts. Bollywood financer Bharat Shah, who claims that RGV owes him Rs 9 crore (approximately), says, "I don't know where RGV is, he is dodging everybody. I made Mast with him. Woh mast ho gaya hai aur main barbaad."

The list of those claiming that they loaned money to RGV also includes Reliance Entertainment. The production house's CFO Shibasish Sarkar confirms that the filmmaker owes them to the tune of Rs 32 crore. "He has only paid us Rs 4 crore approximately. We took him to court, which issued a directive that he has to pay a certain percentage from his every film hereafter. He abided by the order for some time, but then defaulted. We have informed the court about this," says Sarkar.

Summing up RGV's problems, he adds, "RGV has become very repetitive with his films on the underworld. He gave three lovely films in Rangeela, Satya and Company, and then the brilliance dimmed."

Another name on the list of people left hanging by RGV is allegedly that of Pravin Nischol, late actor Navin Nischol's brother. However, when contacted, Nischol cleared RGV saying, "There are talks that RGV owes me money but our slate is clean. Yes, we had creative differences and stopped working together after three films-- Sarkaar Raj, Contract and Phoonk. But I maintain that he is still a good filmmaker. His films may have stopped hitting the bull's eye but then, which filmmaker has not had his share of lows?"

Sarkar maintains that RGV needs to go back to the drawing board to end his dry spell and pay off his debts. "He was misled by those who claimed to be his well-wishers and he got embroiled in court cases. I've heard that creditors recently landed up outside his Oshiwara office and demanded to know his whereabouts. I won't say that he has secluded himself because of the money he owes us, I guess there are other debts too which have added to his decision to keep a low profile," says Sarkar.

Bharat Shah insists that his seclusion has further alienated him from his industry peers. "He has a problem with almost everybody in the industry. There is no point in contacting him because he just doesn't respond," says Shah.

When Mirror contacted RGV however he was surprisingly quick to respond: "Right now, I am in Mumbai working on the pre-production of my next Hindi film. "When we brought up the question of his controversial tweets, he texted: "Whatever I tweeted, I am well within my rights to express my views."

A few days ago, there were reports that he is tying up with Ekta Kapoor for an adult film titled Xes.

When asked whether it is the project he is working on, he ended the conversation saying, "Write what you want. Don't irritate me."