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BREAKING: Bosco Martis, Parvez Shaikh, Stevan Bernard & other crew members of Bade Miyan Chote Miyan finally get their due after long wait
"The federation is supervising all the payments to the vendors, so that the subsidy funds are not misused by any party,” says Ashoke Pandit, IFTDA president.
The ongoing controversy between Pooja Entertainment and director Ali Abbas Zafar is gaining momentum over the settlements of monetary dues for the Eid 2024 release, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan. While Ali Abbas Zafar and several other crew members approached FWICE (Federation of Western Cine Employees) to complain about Pooja Entertainment for alleged non-payment of dues, Vashu & Jackky Bhagnani have filed a complaint against the director for alleged siphoning of funds.
Ever since the accusations against Ali Abbas Zafar came to the forefront, several crew members of BMCM have come out to share their perspectives on the matter. The first one to share was actor Khalid, who played a small part in the actioner. According to the actor and many others, the crew members' payments were cleared by Ali Abbas Zafar, who recently received subsidy money from Abu Dhabi.
Leading action director Parvez Shaikh, who has worked on films like War, Bang Bang, Sultan, Brahmastra, Fighter, Tiger 3, Prithviraj, Bharat, and OMG among others, has taken to social media to support director, Ali Abbas Zafar.
His post reads, “I read an article about false accusations and maligning of a reputed director/producer by Pooja Films. The truth is the other way around. I was the action director of the film BMCM and the accusations on AAZ Films are baseless. I have been working with Ali Abbas Zafar sir since 2014 and never faced any issues with the payments and they are people of their word when it comes to business.”
He added, “Finally, after the subsidy from Adu Dhabi for BMCM was released, I would like to thank Ali Abbas Zafar and Himanshu Mehra who cleared all my wages and payments for the hardworking stunt men through the movie stunt artist association.” Parvez is, however, yet to receive the expensive shoot equipment from the producers.
“The expensive equipment we took to London for the shooting of BMCM are still being held in the studio of Pooja Films in Luton and we still have not gotten any response about when we are going to get them back. We have worked on another project named Eagle with Pooja Films in India and to date, we have not received payments for worker wages and equipment,” he concluded.
Film editor Steven Bernard, who has worked on films like Golmaal 3, Chennai Express, Singham Returns, Bol Bachchan, Race 3, Housefull 3, and Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani among others, also took to social media to share his take.
He stated, “While working on BMCM with Pooja Films, we faced one common problem – payments were irregular and often delayed. After working day and night on a project for a year, one looks forward to his or her remuneration being paid in full, but in the end, a significant amount was outstanding and delayed for over 5 months after the film's release. I had a very urgent and serious family emergency with my father’s hospitalization for over 2 months and needed funds.”
He also shared, “I followed up regularly, but there was no breakthrough. Throughout, AAZ films were supportive and assured me that I would receive my remuneration. Finally, this week after the subsidy from Abu Dhabi was released, thanks to the team from AAZ Films, I received the last installment in full. This is a huge relief for me and am very grateful for their intervention and action.”
Apart from the two, 10 other crew members took to Instagram to thank Ali Abbas Zafar and the team for clearing their payments. They include – Khalid (Actor), Shaurya Kohli (AD), Diksha Pradhan (AD), Saurabh Kumar (Associate Director), Shahab (Actor), Anurag Pandey (Associate Editor), Makvika Bajaj (Costume Designer), Rohed Khan (Actor) and Marcin Laskawiec (DOP). We hear top choreographer, Bosco Martis, has also been paid off from Abu Dhabi subsidy, alongside 90 more crew members.
We reached out to Jackky Bhagnani for a comment and he remained unavailable for the same. Even the officials of AAZ Films refused to comment on the matter. According to our sources, all these payments have been done keeping the FWICE in confidence, as they are closely monitoring to make sure that everyone who worked on the crew gets their payment and there is no misuse of funds.
The source further informs that over 150 vendors, technicians, and crew members' dues are expected to be paid off in association with FWICE (President B.N. Tewari) and IFTDA (President Ashoke Pandit) by the end of next week.
Ashoke Pandit, IFTDA president exclusively tells Pinkvilla, “The federation is supervising all the payments to the vendors so that any party does not misuse the subsidy funds. All I can say is, Pooja Entertainment is liable to pay the money to all the monies to our technicians. This includes also Ganapath and Mission Raniganj."
He said, "We have been following up with Pooja Entertainment for the last 8 months for Raniganj and they often promise something but are yet to release the payments, their intention is not right. Now, when Ali Abbas Zafar has complained to us, we are concerned about the non-payment by Pooja Entertainment as per the complaint. But Ali Abbas Zafar and Himanshu Mehra are now settling the dues to our members from the monies of Abu Dhabi subsidy.”
We still await an official comment from the end of Pooja Entertainment.
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