BHOPAL: After about a 45-50-person film crew of the Hindi feature film Nemesis was locked up in Hotel Abhinandan Palace in Bhopal, as the producer failed to pay the bill and went underground, the Madhya Pradesh Artistes & Film Workers Forum (MPAFW) has called for a ban on Producer (and director) Alok Kumar Choubey.
According to a Hindustan Times report, crew members said the hotel management locked the gate and held them hostage for nearly 48 hours, until senior officials from Mumbai – from the office of investor Sanjay Gupta intervened. A press release issued by investor Sanjay Gupta said he has already spent Rs 1.40 crore on the shooting and the rest of the amount was to be arranged by Choubey. However, all the staff, including the director and spot boys, loaders, etc., said they have not yet received any payment.
It is learnt that all the light, sound and camera equipment has been confiscated by the management of Hotel Abhinandan palace
Senior officials from Misrod police station, Bhopal, confirmed the incident and said a joint meeting was held between the hotel management, the film crew and the police. Meanwhile, Alok Kumar Choubey was unreachable, his phone was switched off and he was not available to answer questions.
According to the police as quoted by Amar Ujala, “a serious incident related to the Bollywood Hindi film industry has emerged in the city. As informed, a team of 45 to 50 members, mainly film crew and technicians involved in the shooting of the Hindi feature film, is currently stuck in Hotel Abhinandan Palace in Bhopal. We sent a police team at the hotel but both parties are not ready to file a complaint for now. As the situation persists we have deployed a constable there to watch the law and order situation.”
The outstanding bill for the crew’s hotel is approximately ₹15 lakh, with payments also due for another hotel in Bhopal – hotel Tulip Inn and the dues of the crew and other staff. Non-payment and non-availability of Alok Kumar Choubey, led the hotel management to lock the gate, preventing guests from leaving until all dues were cleared. Alok Choube was not even taking calls and while the matter could have been settled out amicably, his absence led to further problems, escalating the situation to a point of no return.
A hotel spokesperson said the hotel was forced to take this stand as Choubey was not picking up phone calls and his phone was later on switched off. He promised to give us post-dated cheques, but he is still underground and unavailable. We are filing a police complaint today, hotel authorities said.
The film artistes and workers forum has demanded that the MP government ban Alok Kumar Choubey from doing any further shooting in Madhya Pradesh. “He is a fraud and hence is avoiding us. He should have come here and stood with us,” the film workers, mostly from Mumbai said.
Local line producer Vaibhav from Bhopal told media persons that Alok did not inform anyone and just disappeared. He is not reachable and this has further increased the problem. Bills of two hotels are unpaid. The hotel authorities are unwilling to allow the staff, including the film director and other senior staff to leave the hotels unless the dues are cleared.
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