Producer Vashu Bhagnani has filed a police complaint against director Ali Abbas Zafar for misappropriation of funds during the shoot of Bade Miyan Chote Miyan. The 17-page complaint was filed at the Bandra police station on September 3 where Vashu’s Pooja Entertainment has accused the director for ‘siphoning the subsidy funds he took from Abu Dhabi authorities during the shoot of Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’.

Earlier, Ali Abbas Zafar had issued a complaint with the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) against the producers for non-repayment of his dues of Rs 7.30 crore. Tinu Desai, director of Mission Raniganj which was produced by Vashu Bhagnani, had also complained for not getting remunerated for the film.

FWICE released a statement on September 22 addressing these complaints. It read, “There have been certain speculations going on in the media regarding non-payment of dues to the technicians, workers, artists, and vendor by Vashu Bhagnani – Producer of M/s. Pooja Entertainment. We would therefore like to make certain clarifications in the above regard. FWICE has received complaints from our various affiliated associations belonging to different crafts.”

It further said, “Director Tinu Desai has filed a complaint for not being paid the balance amount towards his remuneration of Film Mission Raniganj which was released on 6th of Oct. 2023. Our constant follow-ups on Tinu Desai’s matter have not yielded any results to date. We have also received individual complaints from the technical crew and vendors of the Film Ganapath which was directed by Mr. Vikas Behl and was released on 20th Oct 2023,”

They confirmed receiving a compliant from Ali Abbas Zafar as well. “We have now received a complaint from Director Mr. Ali Abbas Zafar for not being paid his direction fees for the film Bade Miyan Chote Miyan which was released on 11th April 2024. Not only this, we have received complaints from the largest association of daily wage setting workers FSSAMU, regarding the nonpayment of the dues of these poor daily wage workers.” 

The president of FWICE, BN Tiwari had said in June that the producer owes Rs 31.78 lakh to over 250 set workers who worked on films like Mission Raniganj, Tiger Shroff’s Ganapath (2023), and Akshay Kumar and Tiger's Bade Miyan Chote Miyan.

The complaint filed by Vashu details upon the entire duration of the film’s production right from the time Ali was roped in to helm it to the time the film’s shoot got completed. The producer has said that Ali wanted a credit of writer, director and producer for the film and wanted to work together with his business associate Himanshu Mehra under Ali Abbas Films LLP.

The producer claimed that Ali took control of the film after agreeing that the final say about decisions would remain with Vashu Bhagnani. “The Accused (Ali Abbas Zafar) directly approached vendors, crew, cast, etc. and finalised figures with them without any proper prior consultation; the Accused directly informed the Complainant (Vashu Bhagnani) only after, and straight away shared the contracts required to be signed with them (Actors/Cast mainly),” claimed the producers in the report.

It is further mentioned that the film’s shoot was completed in April 2023 and Ali started to withhold information from the producers of being over-budget by over Rs 6 crore. “The accused started operating in an opaque manner altogether and slowly and systematically started to show their true colours and started withholding / suppressing material information such as of being OB (over-budget) by 6 crores, that too without any prior consent of the Complainant.”

The complaint mentions that the film’s budget was locked at Rs 154 crore, as approved by Vashu Bhagnani. The UAE leg of the shoot was supposed to cost Rs 33 crore but it was exceeded by Rs 6 crore. “The complainant were not provided periodic updates and accounts as assured and therefore, it is evident that there has been major siphoning of funds and mismanagement at the behest of the accused.”

Bade Miyan Chote Miyan released in theatres on April 11 and received negative reviews, making over Rs 111.5 crore globally, according to sacnilk.com. Interestingly, before the film’s release, Vashu had claimed that the film will make Rs 1100 crore worldwide.