Bombay HC charges KriArj with contempt of court after Prernaa Arora's company fails to pay dues

The legal battles for Prernaa Arora and her company KriArj Entertainment don’t seem to be getting over soon. After the debacle with Abhishek Kapoor during the making of the upcoming film Kedarnath, Arora was embroiled in a nasty legal dispute with John Abraham ahead of the release of Parmanu. _Read — Kedarnath, Parmanu: A timeline of KriArj Entertainment's legal tussle with Abhishek Kapoor, John Abraham_ It was  earlier  reported that Arora and her company was sued by Gothic Entertainment for non-payment of dues over films like Parmanu and Padman under section 9 on 23 May. At the hearing, on 23 May, Justice Kathawalla of Bombay HC ordered KriArj to deposit Rs 5 crore of the Rs 18.32 that it owed to Gothic within three weeks, but it seems the due settlement hasn’t been done yet. [caption id=“attachment_4463931” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Prernaa Arora of KriArj Entertainment. Twitter @koimoi[/caption] According to a report by DNA, KriArj had asked for an extension, receiving a leeway of four more weeks. But they were still unable to pay Rs 5 crore. This has now irked the Bombay High Court and it has rapped the production company for contempt. It is now reported that Justice Kathawalla has given them a notice of one week to file an affidavit and explain the reason for the delay. It also directed the producer to explain why the contractual agreements are not being disclosed in front of the court. The DNA report further adds that Gothic Entertainment has sought a stay in Fanney Khan’s release until given the due credit of co-producer. It has reportedly invested in nine films that were made under the banner of KriArj Entertainment, including Fanney Khan and Batti Gul Meter Chalu. Bombay HC has however declined Gothic Entertainment’s plea to stay Fanney Khan’s release and has given 23 July as the next date of hearing. Meanwhile, producer Vashu Bhagnani continues his legal battle with the producers of Fanney Khan and Batti Gul Meter Chalu after his name went missing from the former film's credits. He had initially claimed that he won’t let the film to release as he held its distribution rights. It was earlier  reported that the Delhi HC had rejected Bhagnani’s plea and had directed him to not interfere with the release and distribution of the films, as per a statement issued by T-Series, which is bankrolling the projects now. However, Bhagnani’s lawyer says that they haven’t received any official notice from T-Series as of now, reports DNA. [caption id=“attachment_4732151” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  A still from Fanney Khan trailer and Shahid Kapoor on the sets of Batti Gul Meter Chalu/Images from Twitter.[/caption] “When the honourable court was informed that the suit was filed in Delhi on 10 July, Justice Kathawalla, too, was surprised that we had not got any notice. The Delhi HC order was an ex-parte order. When we told Justice Kathawalla that the next hearing of the Delhi HC was on 17 July, he asked about Fanney Khan’s release date. When we told him it’s 3 August, he decided to hear our matter on 19 July. He said that Pooja Entertainment should obtain clarity from Delhi HC about the ex-parte order,” says Bhagnani’s lawyer Vibhav Krishna, as quoted in the DNA report. Fanney Khan stars Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Rajkummar Rao in pivotal roles and is slated to release on 3 August; the film is directed by debutant Atul Manjrekar. Batti Gul Meter Chalu stars Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor and Yami Gautam and is being helmed by Toilet: Ek Prem Katha director Shree Narayan Singh. The film is scheduled for a 31 August release.