| |||
Friday, 19th Sept 2014, 7:09 PM IST Buzz is, Ram Gopal Varma is neck deep in debts, and hence, he has made a quiet exit from the public eye. Nobody knows where the controversial filmmaker has vanished. Bollywood financer Bharat Shah, who claims that Ramu owes him Rs 9 crore (approximately), says, “I don't know where RGV is, he is dodging everybody. I made Mast with him. Woh mast hogaya hai aur main barbaad.” The list of those claiming that they lent money to RGV also includes Reliance Entertainment. Shibasish Sarkar, the production house's CFO, confirms that Ramu owes them approximately Rs 32 crore. “He has only paid us Rs 4 crore approximately. We took him to court, which issued a directive that he has to pay a certain percentage from his every film hereafter. He abided by the order for some time, but then defaulted. We have informed the court about this,” says Sarkar. He further added, “He was misled by those who claimed to be his well-wishers and he got embroiled in court cases. I've heard that creditors recently landed up outside his Oshiwara office and demanded to know his whereabouts. I won't say that he has secluded himself because of the money he owes us, I guess there are other debts too which have added to his decision to keep a low profile.” Pravin Nischol, late actor Navin Nischol's brother, is also someone whom RGV owes money. However, when contacted, Nischol cleared RGV saying, “There are talks that RGV owes me money but our slate is clean. Yes, we had creative differences and stopped working together after three films-‘Sarkaar Raj’, ‘Contract’ and ‘Phoonk’. But I maintain that he is still a good filmmaker. His films may have stopped hitting the bull's eye but then, which filmmaker has not had his share of lows?” Bharat Shah insists that his seclusion has further alienated him from his industry peers. “He has a problem with almost everybody in the industry. There is no point in contacting him because he just doesn't respond,” says Shah. However, when a daily contacted RGV, he was surprisingly quick to respond: “Right now, I am in Mumbai working on the pre-production of my next Hindi film.” A few days ago, there were reports that he is tying up with Ekta Kapoor for an adult film titled ‘Xes’. When asked whether it is the project he is working on, he ended the conversation saying, “Write what you want. Don't irritate me.” |