'Completely unfounded': Netflix denies they owe Vashu Bhagnani Rs 47 crore

Vashu Bhagnani

The Mumbai-based production house Pooja Entertainment, headed by Vashu Bhagnani, continues to level allegations of financial fraud. First, they put forth the allegations against director Ali Abbas Zafar for misappropriation of funds, and now the production house has filed a lawsuit against streaming giant Netflix and others.

Netflix slams Vashu Bhagnani's claims of non-payment

However, Netflix, on its part, has denied these allegations through an official statement of its spokesperson.

Vashu Bhagnani had accused the streaming major of not honouring its payment obligations after the completion and release of films produced by Pooja Entertainment. He claimed that he is yet to receive dues worth INR 47.37 Cr with regards to the subscription-video-on-demand (SVOD) rights he had granted on three films ‘Hero No 1', ‘Mission Raniganj' and ‘Bade Miya Chote Miya' to Netflix.

He has also levelled allegations against Los Gatos Production Services India through which Netflix reports its content investments in India, Zoo Digital India, which provides subtitling, dubbing and media localisation services, as well as 10 executives of the two companies.

Netflix's spokesperson denied these claims on behalf of Netflix as it said in the official statement, "These claims are completely unfounded. Indeed, it's Pooja Entertainment that owes Netflix money. We have a strong track record of partnership with the Indian creative community and are working with the authorities to resolve this dispute".

Earlier, Vashu Bhagnani had filed a complaint against Ali Abbas Zafar, who directed the commercial and critical disaster ‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan', for syphoning the subsidy funds he took from Abu Dhabi authorities during the shoot of the film. Ali is yet to respond to these allegations.

However, in the past there have been several allegations against Pooja Entertainment over non-payment to the BTL of ‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan' including the stunt team, the lighting team and people on the lower rung of the film unit.