Ahmed Ali (THE TIMES OF INDIA; December 9, 2018)

Mumbai: Prernaa Arora, who runs an A-lister movie production house, was arrested by Mumbai police’s economic offences wing (EOW) on Saturday for allegedly cheating another production company of Rs 31.6 crore. This is the fourth cheating case filed against her this year. She has been booked in three similar frauds collectively involving Rs 66 crore, said police sources.

EOW’s housing unit arrested Aroraa, director of KriArj Entertainment, which has produced, distributed and promoted recent movies such as ‘Pad Man’ and ‘Toilet - Ek Prem Katha’.

Aroraa has been booked under Indian Penal Code sections for cheating and criminal conspiracy. She was produced before the holiday court, which remanded her to police custody. The police said Nagesh Vaidikar, production manager at Pooja Films, had lodged the complaint with EOW in September.

Vaidikar said Arora, along with two other absconding accused, Arjun N Kapoor and Pratima Arora, allegedly induced Pooja Films and its head Vashu Bhagnani to provide finance for ‘Pad Man’, promising first claim on its post-release revenue. But they had already reportedly given the right to another organisation and accepted money, a fact intentionally concealed from Bhagnani. Later, they allegedly failed to return the money to Bhagnani, causing losses to the tune of Rs 31.6 crore.

During the investigation, the police learnt KriArj Entertainment had taken loans from various financial organisations for the film and kept Pooja Films in the dark. KriArj had signed a contract with Gothic Entertainment in November 2017 for ‘Pad Man’ and other films and given it first claim on their revenues. KriArj hid this fact from the complainant’s company, the police concluded.

The complainant said that Aroraa’s company had signed contracts with Gothic Entertainment for several movies, including ‘Pad Man’, ‘Batti Gul Meter Chalu’ and ‘Fanney Khan’, last year.

The police claim it found Arora took money from victims “for buying properties and maintaining a lavish lifestyle”.

They need to interrogate Arora and her associates to follow the money trail, for which they need to freeze several bank accounts in which sums were deposited, transferred and allegedly siphoned off, they added.

Actor plays a lawyer in a social drama about electricity and life without it
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 4, 2017)

Director-editor Shree Narayan Singh is gearing up to roll with his second directorial, Batti Gul Meter Chalu, after a smashing debut, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha. The social-drama goes on the floors on January 19 with leading man Shahid Kapoor playing a lawyer. The film will be shot in North India with a start-to-finish schedule across Haridwar, Rishikesh, Tehri, Mussoorie and Nainital. The makers are hoping to wrap up by April.

“The film will take off on a cool note but will become more intense post-interval with heavyweight performances and Shahid having several confrontation scenes,” Shree told Mirror, adding that the hunt for a leading lady opposite Shahid, as well as an actress to play a female lawyer who will battle Shahid in court is presently on.

Co-produced by the father-daughter duo, Virindrra Arora and Prernaa Arora, along with T-Series, the film will have huge dollops of humour while Shahid takes on the issue of electricity shortage. “The film touches upon two aspects — first, the significance of electricity and life without it and second, what happens to a common man when he is faced with humongous bills,” the filmmaker says. It will also touch upon the topic of electricity distribution within the country.

Batti Gul Meter Chalu is slated for release on August 31, 2018, with Shree not only directing but also editing it. It has been written by Vipul K Rawal whose Rustom bagged Akshay Kumar the National Award for Best Actor, along with acclaimed duo Siddharth-Garima, who penned Toilet - Ek Prem Katha. “Shree has just returned from the final recce and begun prep with Shahid to present him in a never-seen-before avatar of a lawyer,” Prernaa promises.

In conversation with Prernaa Arora, the producer behind two mega-hits, Akshay Kumar’s Rustom and Toilet - Ek Prem Katha
MUMBAI MIRROR (October 17, 2017)

Prernaa Arora’s Bollywood journey began with one right step—joining hands with Akshay Kumar to make Rustom in August 2016 with business partner Arjun N Kapoor. Fourteen months later, her banner KriArj Entertainment, headed by her father Virindrra Arora, has taken massive strides into filmmaking.

They broke records with Akshay again, with their super-hit second collaboration, Toilet - Ek Prem Katha. Their next featuring Akshay is Padman in collaboration with Twinkle Khanna aka Mrs Funybones.

In an interview to Mirror, Prernaa gives us insights into her future plans and passion for cinema:

In 12 months, you seem to have announced 12 films!
I’d like to say that we don’t make announcements, we make films. If you look at KriArj’s slate, you will see that even before we finish one film, we are well into the second. That is the strategy.

I am extremely proud to say that we have finished shooting five films that will release in 2018. In February, we have Pari with the super-talented Anushka Sharma. It is a co-production with her banner that is headed by her brother, Karnesh, and Parmanu.

Pad Man releases on April 13. Then, there’s Fanney Khan and TBD title with Vishal Bhardwaj sir by October. Before Rustom released, we were on board Toilet - Ek Prem Katha. Before TEPK was declared a super hit, we completed Parmanu with John Abraham and Diana Penty. We are releasing it on February 23, 2018. Originally, we had planned to release it on December 1 this year but we were happy to move it since Padmavati is opening on that date. Parmanu is an important film for the country and we want to give it the best platform possible. So far, we have completed nearly six films and two more have begun. The first schedule of Kedarnath is wrapped up and we also have Fanney Khan on the floors. As we release two films in February, we commence shooting for the next ones by January-end.

Go on...
Like I said, I’m passionate about cinema and the only thing that truly excites me is producing movies. While I’d love for us to produce an endless list of films, it is not about quantity. Arjun, my dad and I want to invest in quality and set a benchmark for KriArj. Our partnership with Abhishek Kapoor, Vishal Bharadwaj sir and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra sir bring us immense happiness and excitement. We have recently collaborated with Shree Narayan Singh again, over a very important subject.

Who are your favourite actors to work with?
Akshay sir, my all-time favourite, is a superstar with a great business acumen and wisdom. We at KriArj will want to work with him again and again. I also feel proud to work with self-made women, like Mrs. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Anushka Sharma and Deepika Padukone.

How involved are you in the actual ground work of film production?
I’m as involved as any hard-working producer would be. I start work a little late in the day (laughs) but I work for 14 hours a day. My team and I are constantly following up with various partners on the day-to-day progress. If I can help it, I try not to miss an important meeting because I don’t just want my name on the marquee. When a movie releases, I want to be able to savour the whole experience by being involved in all the key decision-making. The behind-the-scene production activities are more challenging and what the audience see unfolding in front of them is the collective work of a huge team of people. I’m more of a foot soldier in that sense, than just a producer.

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