Five months after the release of JP Dutta’s Paltan, several members of the cast and crew including actors Gurmeet Choudhary, Dr Chien Ho Liao, Nelson Liao, and Sonal Chauhan’s make-up artist Arjun Bundela, alleged that the makers have refused to clear their respective dues, a leading daily reports. Paltan, directed by JP Dutta, featured an ensemble cast including Jackie Shroff, Sonu Sood, Arjun Rampal and Harshvardhan Rane.
Gurmeet, cast as one of the male leads in Paltan, told the daily, "My staff (hair and make-up) and I haven't received our payments." Dr Chien Ho Liao, cast as the antagonist in Paltan, also narrated a similar story, saying that he “trusted” JP Dutta on grounds of the fact that he is a veteran member of the industry. In fact, he visited his office in Mumbai’s Andheri often but that didn’t help. "When I was offered the film, we verbally agreed on the remuneration. I trusted JP sir as he is an industry veteran. I regret not signing the contract. More than 50 per cent of my money is pending," Dr Chien Ho Liao told the daily.
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Image posted on Instagram by Gurmeet Choudhary[/caption]
Arjun, on the other hand, alleged that he has been denied payment of Rs 90,000. "They assured me that the payment will be cleared by December, but I am yet to receive Rs 90,000 from them. Whenever I call up JP Films, they maintain that the money will be released once Zee Studios (co-producer) pays them. To my knowledge, Zee has already cleared the money,” Arjun told the daily.
Nelson Liao, who also featured in the film, said that he hasn’t received his complete payment. However, Nelson has decided against seeking legal recourse since it isn’t a “big amount”.
Meanwhile, JP Dutta’s daughter Nidhi has denied the allegations, saying all payments were cleared before the release of Paltan. "Everyone knows where our office is. If they have any issues regarding non-payment of dues, they are welcome to meet us. They can also call my father, yet none of them have done it," Nidhi told the daily.
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A poster of Paltan[/caption]
As far as Gurmeet’s dues are concerned, Nidhi challenged the actor to produce proof regarding his payment. "Nobody has approached us. I would also ask Gurmeet to produce proof regarding the so-called dues. We haven't defaulted on our payments. If someone tries to defame my father or our company, I won't take it lying down,” she added.
Paltan, based on the 1967 Nathu La and Cho La clashes along the Sikkim border after the 1962 Sino-Indian War, released in September 2018.
