Pooja Entertainment, owned by Vashu Bhagnani and Jackky Bhagnani, has been grabbing the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Reports claim that they are in a huge debt, sold off their office space and also had laid off 80 per cent of their staff. Though Vashu Bhagnani has refuted the claims, there have been claims of non-payment of dues by some of the workers, directors, actors and technicians. As per a report in PTI, Vashu owes a huge amount of money to Akshay Kumar’s 'Mission Raniganj' director Tinu Desai. Recently, Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) president BN Tiwari revealed that payments of workers who worked on films like 'Mission Raniganj', 'Ganapath' and 'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan' are also pending.
Tiwari revealed that Pooja Entertainment, owes Rs 33.13 lakh to 'Mission Raniganj's director and Rs 31.78 lakh to over 250 crew members.
The FWICE president further revealed that a written complaint was filed by Desai last year in March 2023, alleging the non-payment of his dues. ''We’ve been following up with Pooja Entertainment but still they haven’t made the payment. They have said by July end they will clear the dues,” he said.
As per reports, Tinu Desai was supposed to receive Rs 4,03,50,000 but he only received Rs 3,70,36,092 so far.
FWICE President also claimed that the Indian Film & Television Directors' Association (IFTDA) also wrote several letters to the production house, but they kept delaying the payment. He also said that in February this year, Pooja Entertainment sought “time to pay, citing Jackky Bhagnani’s wedding via an email dated February 20, 2024, to IFTDA”.
FWICE sent another letter to them in March this year but Vashu Bhagnani again sought time saying they would do after the release of 'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan'.
Recently, in a statement, Vashu Bhagnani, rubbished all the rumours. He said that the office space hasn’t been sold to anyone and is currently undergoing redevelopment. He also said that his company hasn't asked anyone to leave.
