Accused as an accomplice to the technician who misplaced footage of Zareen Khan's film, cinematographer Faroukh Mistry claims co-producer Anshuman Jha is making him a scapegoat to cover production's negligence
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; July 19, 2019)

Four days after mid-day carried a report that a bizarre turn of events had hampered the shoot of Zareen Khan's Hum Bhi Akele Tum Bhi Akele, the case has taken a different turn. Digital Imaging Technician Hardik Joshi has been accused of misplacing four-days' worth of shoot of the Anshuman Jha-backed project. But, Joshi, it had been suggested, had informed cinematographer Faroukh Mistry about the developments.

Finding himself in the midst of the evolving controversy, Mistry tells mid-day that the case of the missing hard-drives is linked to the makers' desire to cover their productions delay and negligence. He tells mid-day that the unit had withheld a fair share of information that a cinematographer must have, in a bid to tarnish his image. "The material was lost by Hardik Joshi, a freelance technician who has worked with a number of filmmakers and producers, including Harish Vyas [director] and Anshuman Jha on their last film. Jha and line producer Navey Mittra thought it best to hand over the shoot material to Hardik, who is a junior crew member. He was told to carry the [hard] drives by train over a 36-hour journey from Himachal Pradesh. Mittra insisted that Joshi carry the footage. I was not informed. Mittra and Jha also handed over the rest of the footage to another junior camera crew member, who refused to do so," says Mistry, reiterating that the decision to keep the drives in the hands of junior crew members were being negotiated upon without his knowledge. He states that the production team also knew about the fact that there were no back-ups of the drives that have now gone missing.

"Fourteen days after we got back to Mumbai, Joshi told me he had misplaced four-days worth of footage [in transit]," says Mistry. He points out that the team should not have delayed informing him about the developments. Mistry says, "I hadn't been informed that the drives were being handed out [to the junior crew]. When I got to know of the misplaced footage [14 days later], Joshi was told to inform the production and file a police report. He said he had a meeting with Jha, and a report had been filed. Then he disappeared. If drives go missing for an insured film, the [onus comes] on the producer and the person they hand over the material to. None of this exchange was authorised by me, or even communicated to me. Anshuman and the production unit did not take due diligence to safeguard their footage, like carrying their own material and having a back-up of the footage. I will defend myself through legal measures if need be."

Jha did not respond to mid-day's request for comment.

Zareen Khan with director Harish Vyas and DoP Faroukh Mistry

In a bizarre development, technician misplaces five-day footage from McLeodganj schedule of Zareen Khan-starrer; director lodges police complaint, arranges re-shoot
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; July 15, 2019)

Zareen Khan's next, Hum Bhi Akele Tum Bhi Akele, may have an interesting script. For now though, there appears to be more drama off-screen than on it for the Harish Vyas-directed project. The film's crew, which wrapped up its first schedule in McLeodganj in the first week of July, finds itself in a strange dilemma — Hardik Joshi, the Digital Imaging Technician (DIT) on the film, has misplaced the hard drive that contained five-days of shoot material from the first schedule.

Turns out, he had informed cinematographer Faroukh Mistry of the loss last week, but the director of photography (DoP) chose to keep the matter from the director. Now, Vyas has registered a case of criminal breach of trust and cheating (Section 405 and 420 of Indian Penal Code) against Mistry and Joshi at the Dindoshi police station. A source from the unit of the Anshuman Jha-starrer tells mid-day, "After a month-long schedule in McLeodganj, we returned to Mumbai on July 5. Over the next week, our calls to the DIT converter went unanswered, and he did not show up at the studio either. Finally, we had to go to his house where he was holed up. It then came to light that he had misplaced two 4TB hard drives containing five days of shooting footage and the back-up from our first schedule. Not just that, he said that his boss Faroukh Mistry knew of the development for the past week. However, Faroukh denied any knowledge of this incident."

Confirming the news, Jha says, "It has been an absolute nightmare, but I am hopeful that we will recover the data. I am grateful to the Mumbai Police for their prompt response. I hope they make some headway in the case, else we will have to go back and re-shoot."

The director, in the meanwhile, has already started making arrangements for a re-shoot. "I hope the cops can find the hard drives. In any case, we are working out Anshuman and Zareen's dates for the re-shoot, should the need arise," says Vyas.