John Abraham-starrer Parmanu to get new release date as actor terminates contract with KriArj Entertainment

Mumbai: After terminating a contract with production company KriArj Entertainment in the interest of Parmanu - The Story Of Pokhran, John Abraham Entertainment on 2 April announced the film will soon get a new release date.

Parmanu… was scheduled to release on 8 December in 2017. Its release date got pushed to 23 February, 2018 and then to 6 April.

But clearly, the film, based on the nuclear tests conducted at Pokhran in 1998, won’t hit the screens on Friday (6 April) as all’s not well between the co-producers.

A statement issued by John Abraham Entertainment to IANS read, “In the best interest of the film, we have terminated our contract with KriArj Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. and will soon announce the release schedule.”

Termination of the agreement by actor John Abraham’s company “is valid and legal”.

“KriArj has committed material breaches which left us with no choice but to terminate in the interest of the film. We would like to state that this extreme step has been taken by us after days of trying to resolve the issues at hand in the best interest of the release of the film. We have fulfilled our commitment at every stage of this project and intimated KriArj in writing from time to time. We have been waiting and asking for payments at every stage.”

But their payments have either “been delayed or we have received wrong UTR (unique taxpayer reference) number. Cheque payments have been stopped time and again”.

Delay in payments/non-payments have caused “delays in the post-production work after the film’s principal shoot was completed on time and on schedule last year”.

John Abraham Entertainment further lashed out at KriArj, saying “despite repeated follow-up, the distribution plan for the film has not been shared and there has been no transparency in their dealings with third parties”.

“We have till date not been privy to any signed contracts of third parties with KriArj, if any.”

John Abraham Entertainment has time and again sat on the marketing campaign and the dates have been pushed at least three times, thanks to “delayed payments”.

KriArj “without our approval has gone out and made statements giving false reasons for the delay”.

Any future attempts by KriArj to “jeopardise the film or defame the production house and/or the film, like they have done in the past with other films, will compel us to initiate legal proceedings against them”.

The statement comes a day after KriArj Entertainment said, “In response to the trade notice issued by John Abraham Entertainment claiming termination of their agreement with us for the film Parmanu…, please note that the said termination is illegal and invalid.”

“Our rights in the film as a joint producer/presenter and owner of all rights are fully secured, we have always fulfilled all our commitments till date and have clear intent to continue doing so.”

“John Abraham Entertainment has also always been aware that Zee Studios are KriArj’s partners in the film from very early stages as co-producers and also the acquirers of the overseas theatrical, digital, satellite and music rights of the film.”

They blamed John Abraham Entertainment for not fulfilling its “commitment of completing and intimating us of the completion the film and is fraudulently trying to delay the release of the film thereby causing huge monetary losses and damage to our reputation”.

The statement also read: “It goes without saying that anyone dealing with the film or any of its rights through John Abraham Entertainment will be doing so at their own risk and peril and will also have to face legal consequences. We have already instructed our attorneys who will be moving the necessary authorities soon for seeking justice against the breaches committed by John Abraham Entertainment and its promoter Mr John Abraham.”

“The allegations made by JA Ent are false and frivolous. The fact that they want to defraud us is amplified from that fact that inspite of payment of almost 30 Crores and Kriarj being fully and naturally willing to promote and release the Film at the earliest they stopped promotions and now want to walk away with the Film without any remorse in such an unethical fashion which is there for all to see.

We do not wish to further comment on the ongoing dispute and/or stoop to the levels of JA Ent but would like to state one point.

This is not our first film as producers - we have released 4 films successfully in the last year and a half and have lined up another 3 to be released by the end of this year but the other side seems inexperienced as their first film as line producers has still not seen the light of the day till date …

We have already initiated appropriate action against JA Ent and its promoter/s and we reserve our rights to make further statements on this subject until disposition of our claims against JA Ent and its promoter Mr.John Abraham”