Guruvendra Shetty’s upcoming directorial 5G, starring Praveen and Nidhi Subbaiah, is ready but we hear that producer Jagadish will not be releasing it immediately. Adding fuel to fire, the filmmakers are unable to sell its TV rights either though there is a demand for it. Why? The rights of the film is with the lead actress Nidhi Subbaiah and she is yet to receive payment for acting in it.
The producer has paid 25 per cent of the remuneration to her as an advance and had asked Nidhi to keep the rights till they cleared her payment. This was an agreement the producer had made with the actress. Our source says that the actress has been forced to hold back the rights because her dues have not been settled.
“The filmmakers had initially planned to release the movie in September 2016 and Nidhi was keen on promoting 5G,” says our source, adding, “but it has been nine months and there is no sign of the film making it to the theatres anytime soon... The producer is not ready to clear the actress’ dues, and she seems to have been left with no option but to hold on to the TV rights. Now it is up to the producer to settle the payment and get the rights back.”
Meanwhile, rumours have it that the producer wants to clear her dues but only if she takes an active interest in the movie’s promotions. He is also worried that the actress may not work on this after her marriage.
5G deals with nationalism, and the story revolves around a Rs 500 note, the older version. The note bears the number 222111 and Mahatma Gandhi’s photo.
The film has Sridhar V ’s music.