Chief Advisor Ashoke Pandit, President Birendra Nath Tiwari and Hon Gen Secretary Ashok Dubey addressed the media about the decision taken by FWICE (Federation of Western India Cine Employees) on the complaint filed by Farhan Akhtar, against Ranveer Singh over his alleged withdrawal from Don 3.
Ashoke Pandit explained, “Farhan Akhtar filed a complaint in IFTDA (Indian Film & Television Directors’ Association), which I head. The complaint very clearly said that 3 weeks before the unit was to leave the shoot, Ranveer withdrew from the film and left Don 3. Farhan came on Zoom as he was in London, while Ritesh Sidhwani visited the office of IFTDA. In the next two hours, they explained to us the issue and why they had come to us. Then, as a rule, we approached the other party. Every 10 days, we reminded him (Ranveer Singh) three times to meet us and share his version as well. However, we didn’t get any response from him. When we announced the press conference, we got an email stating that our federation doesn’t fall in the jurisdiction of the entire issue. It said, ‘Your body has no reason to get involved in this matter’.”
Birendra Nath Tiwari added, “When a film is made, thousands of our workers get employed. And when a film is suddenly stopped, their employment gets affected. Yeh bahut bada nuksaan hota hai. The federation fights for the rights of the workers and also takes care of the producers. We have never taken one-sided decisions. If a producer gets affected, we have to stand by him.”
He continued, “We feel that the message should go to the industry ki koi superstar niyam se bada nahin hai. Hence, we have put in place a non-cooperation directive against Ranveer from this very day. We would like to inform all the workers and associations that until the dispute is not solved and until Ranveer Singh doesn’t meet us, this directive will remain in place. Since this is about the rights of a producer, I would request the producer associations to also lend their support.”
Ashok Dubey said, “All our members would not work with Ranveer, be it director, cameraman, spotboy, lightman etc.” Ashoke Pandit also revealed, “It also includes ad films as it also involves the same people of various associations and same vendors.”
When asked what Farhan Akhtar has demanded as compensation, Ashoke Pandit replied, “Farhan wants Rs. 45 crores. This amount has been accounted for and audited. They have told him, ‘This is the amount we have spent. You check, and if you feel there’s something wrong in the amount, we are ready to accept it’.”
He also said, “Farhan, Ritesh, Ranveer ji and all our bodies are ready to sit together and come to a positive conclusion.”
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