KriArj Entertainment’s rise, fall and controversies: All you want to know
Shahid Kapoor-starrer ‘Batti Gul Meter Chalu’ joins the bandwagon of financial troubles faced by ‘Parmanu’ and ‘Kedarnath’, alleged courtesy: production house KriArj Entertainment
Prernaa Arora followed the legacy of her film producer-father Virendra Arora and became one of the youngest filmmakers in the business as she started heading production house KriArj Entertainment along with Arjun N Kapoor. The team started off in 2016 with Akshay Kumar-starrer ‘Rustom’ and went on to produce ‘Toilet: Ek Prem Katha’ and ‘PadMan’ with him. However, post the success of these films, the production house has been in the news for some major financial trouble.
Shahid Kapoor
The shooting of Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor-starrer ‘Batti Gul Meter Chalu’ has been stalled as KriArj Entertainment has failed to make production payments, according to bollywoodhungama.com. The report states that the hotel, where the film’s cast and crew were stationed in the North, has taken the custody of all the belongings and property of the shoot from the location, owing to no payments. The crew is reportedly stranded and Shahid, who was to shoot in Tehri, Uttarakhand, has stayed put in Mumbai till the matter is resolved. Bhushan Kumar-headed T-Series may rescue KriArj Entertainment from this financial mess, as ‘Batti Gul Meter Chalu’ is a major project that everyone is banking on.
Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran
Surprisingly, three out of four projects by KriArj Entertainment are facing roadblocks as far as financial arrangements are concerned. The ambitious production house has been fielding accusations of financial trouble by John Abraham Entertainment on their collaboration ‘Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran’. John Abraham’s spokesperson states, “Delay in payments/non-payments have caused delays in the post-production work after the film’s principal shoot was completed by us in time and on schedule last year. JA Entertainment has time and again discussed the marketing campaign for ‘Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran’ with KriArj, but the release dates have been pushed at least thrice due to delayed payments.” Speaking out in their defence, KriArj lashes out at JA Entertainment in its statement, “After making substantial payments to them, JA Entertainment kept making unreasonable demands for money from us which were completely outside the scope of their initial understanding with us. This has made it abundantly clear that they are trying to defraud us by now attempting to wriggle out of a legally binding contract with us, which is not only unlawful but also unethical. It goes without saying that anyone dealing with the film or any of its rights through JA Entertainment will be doing so at their own risk and peril and will also have to face legal consequences. We have already instructed our attorneys, who will be moving the necessary authorities soon, for seeking justice against the breaches committed by JA Entertainment and its promoter, Mr John Abraham.”
John Abraham has reportedly filed three criminal complaints against Prernaa Arora and her company KriArj Entertainment on Saturday at the Khar police station but the latter has hit back saying that no case has been registered against her. While the blame game ensues, John has announced that ‘Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran’ will release on May 4, terminating all contracts with Prernaa’s KriArj Entertainment.
A couple of months ago, the power producers of KriArj Entertainment faced a similar accusation. In February, Abhishek Kapoor, who is directing ‘Kedarnath’, accused the production house for ‘default of payments’ and ‘lack of transparency in financial dealings’. On the other hand, KriArj blamed the director for unprofessional behaviour and mismanagement for delaying the film. After a legal tussle, both the parties called it truce by settling the matter. However, the damage was done by then and ‘Kedarnath’ was delayed as the film will finally release in 2019.
Despite all the negative publicity surrounding the production house and constant accusations of lack of funds, KriArj Entertainment continues to make some big budget movies with A-list celebs and cinema stars of Bollywood. Out of them, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Anil Kapoor-starrer ‘Fanne Khan’ is the only film which remains untouched by the money matters. Prernaa Arora and Arjun N Kapoor have also bought the official remake rights of ‘Woh Kaun Thi’ and are in advanced talks with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to reprise Sadhana’s role for the iconic film.
