On Wednesday, actor Shane Nigam went live on Instagram alleging that the producer of his new film Veyil, Joby George, issued serious threats against him after a heated argument concerning the status of the film.
Shane then lodged a complaint with the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA). The organisation has not responded yet, citing this as a “personal matter”.
As per the agreement with the producer, Shane was supposed to keep his hairstyle intact throughout the duration of the Veyil shoot but, unbeknownst to Joby, the actor altered his hairstyle and joined the set of another film—Qurbaani— without completing his work in Veyil. Upon learning this, an upset Joby called him to enquire the status of his film, subsequently leading to the argument.
The producer, who wasn’t available for comment yesterday, has now come forward with a clarification on what prompted him to react that way. “It’s not like how Shane says it is. I have made 23 films so far. Never have I experienced anything like this before,” said Joby.
“You have to understand the circumstances first. You have to understand the pain of not just the producers but also a director who left his well-paying job to make his film.”
Joby then revealed that Shane had asked for Rs 30 lakh as initial remuneration for a 16-20 day shoot but demanded Rs 40 lakh once the shoot began.
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“In Malayalam cinema history, nobody would’ve paid that kind of sum for such a brief shoot period. The schedule has crossed 25 days already. One day, I got a message that Shane is doing another film. When I learned about this from the producer of that film, I submitted a complaint to the producers’ association.
"They took a decision. They wanted Shane to shoot our film first before moving on to the next. Following the first-schedule break, Shane said he’ll resume work on 15th but then he said we can start on 25th.
"You see, we have to keep in mind a lot of commitments. We want our film to come out on time; we have an agreement with the theatres; we have to give out the rights on time, and so on. Delayed rights mean more money. Naturally, I was upset and I may have said something in the spur of the moment,” said Joby.