EXCLUSIVE: Batti Gul Meter Chalu shoot STALLED, Shahid Kapoor returns - Page 2

Director Shree Narayan Singh and producer Prernaa Arora rubbish reports that their upcoming social-drama has run into trouble over non-payment of dues.

Six days after Mirror reported on the war of words between John Abraham and Prernaa Arora, his producer-partner on his upcoming film, Parmanu, over nonpayment of dues, the latter finds herself in the centre of another controversy around funding.

While John is going solo by announcing a May 4 release date for the film during an ongoing legal tussle with Prernaa, we have now learnt that Batti Gul Meter Chalu, the Shahid KapoorShraddha Kapoor social drama, which is also backed by Prernaa's production house, is in a financial quandary. The film, which features Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor and Yami Gautam, is Shree Narayan Singh's second directorial after Toilet: Ek Prem Katha and deals with electricity cuts. It went on the floors in February in Tehri, Uttarakhand.

And while the unit raved about the serenity of the untapped location, the schedule was recently hit by a roadblock when the owner of the hotel in which the crew was put up locked them out of the premises and confiscated props from the film over non-payment of dues, thereby stalling the shoot.

"Fifteen days ago, the hotel where the art department was put up, asked them to vacate the premises. Everything related to the shooting, including the wood work done by carpenters and painters, was confiscated with the owner locking the hotel, a source close to the development informed Mirror, adding that the team informed the production unit about the incident. After some time, the dues were cleared and the unit was subsequently handed over the stuff that had been locked up.

Since the incident, the film's unit has travelled to Rishikesh and Dehradun to continue shooting, returning to Mumbai recently. "The unit has been told that the shooting has come to a halt due to unavailability of Shahid's dates, the source added. "Some of the unit members haven't received payments for the month of March and haven't been updated about the next shooting schedule of the film either. Locations are yet to be finalised.

When Mirror contacted Prernaa, she was quick to refute this, saying, "I don't want to encourage rumours. We wrapped up 60 percent of Batti Gul Meter Chalu in Uttarakhand. After that, Shree left for Vaishno Devi and returned on March 31. He is now on a recee for the Mumbai schedule. Shraddha's dates aren't available as she is simultaneously shooting for Stree and Saaho. We are scheduled to resume shooting in April and May. Since Shraddha is unavailable, we will be shooting with Shahid after Shree is done with the recee.

Shree Narayan Singh corroborated Prernaa's statement, saying, "All the rumours are rubbish. The shoot is on track and we are looking for a green-screen floor (for CGI) in Mumbai for the next schedule. Everything else is finalised. At this point, we are trying to combine dates of the artistes and hoping to resume filming by April 14.

When asked about the Batti Gul... unit not being paid for the month of March, Prernaa said, "For that, you will have to check with the director as his company is line-producing the film. I am just a presenter, acquisition partner and studio. I am not involved in production at all.

When asked about the Batti Gul... unit not being paid for the month of March, Prernaa said, "For that, you will have to check with the director as his company is line-producing the film. I am just a presenter, acquisition partner and studio. I am not involved in production at all.

So you won't take responsibility? Even if you are not directly overseeing production, isn't it your job as (co-)producer to ensure the right line producer is hired?

At the end of the day, if the shoot is stalled, it is your studio's reputation at stake. These chote-mote line-producers will come and go. But do you want to make a mark as a production house or not? I think not.

I guess she wanted to become a biggie but did not want to assume the responsibilities that come with it. Alas!