’Anuj Saxena has taken me for a ride’

Anuj Saxena

Anuj Saxena's production house Maverick is facing problems. Maverick's Television Head Imtiaz Punjabi (director of Fun2ssh) and writer Kamlesh Kunti Shah, who was assigned to write a serial called Neelanjana, have quit. After six months of work, Kamlesh was told Anuj was not interested in the project.

When Kamlesh heard of Anuj's disinterest, he tried calling the producer, but his calls remained unanswered. So he walked out. And Imtiaz has followed suit. However Imtiaz says diplomatically. "I don't want to get into any controversy.

Yes, I've quit Maverick, but after talking to Rekha (Vaid, head of operations, Maverick) and Anuj. I had a different style of functioning and could not adjust to their way of functioning."

But Kamlesh isn't mincing any words. He accuses Anuj of being under Rekha's spell, "He does whatever she tells him. Rekha was an EP with Rajaa and Jyoti Mukerji when Anuj was doing Prratima.

I had problems with Rekha as she interfered in the script and I complained to Rajaa." He now thinks Rekha is trying to sabotage him again.

New concept

"Anuj wanted a concept that would bring a revolution in the manner fiction stories are told. I told him that no revolution can hit Indian television so soon. But then, he implored, "I want to rock television. Please help me out." And I became emotional.

Two weeks down the line, I dished out an out-of-box concept. Anuj and gang went ga-ga and asked me to direct the pilot episode." And Neelanjana was born.

Things started to roll. Kamlesh says that he invested six months in Neelanjana. He refused other work, hired assistants, worked on the story board and went location hunting as well.

He recalls, "I was also asked to step out of a new show to be aired on Zee because I couldn't give them time." He now regrets getting carried away by Anuj's false hope. "One day, an executive producer from Maverick called me and said that Neelanjana was not happening anymore as Anuj feels it's not viable.

I was shattered. Senior actors like Kiran Karmarkar, Vani Tripathi and Sanjay Gandhi had slashed their remunerations to peanuts for the project."
"I'm not asking for any money for the time and energy I'd put in.

But shouldn't Anuj have been professional and call me up personally to inform me? Didn't he sense the viability at the initial stage? Or were they just talks? He has taken me for a ride.

I want others to take lessons from this incident. They should distance themselves from producers who are only about tall speeches," Kamlesh concludes.

Aishwarya Rai What Rekha Vaid, head of operations, Maverick says: "Kamlesh could not deliver Neelanjana on time; he is a very late riser. Maverick's creative head Devjani Mitra expressed her fears to Anuj and we took a collective decision that we couldn't work with Kamlesh. We decided not to do Neelanjana. When Devjani told Kamlesh about it, he abused and cursed her. He is a very dramatic fellow and I am shocked that anybody can go to this extent. As for Punjabi, he left on an amicable note. He had an argument on Kulvaddhu with Sony and did not want to work with the channel anymore."