Ananta Jalil refutes ‘Din: The Day’ director’s allegations
Actor-producer-businessman Ananta Jalil has refuted Iranian filmmaker Morteza Atashzamzam’s complaints about the film ‘Din: The Day’ on the issue of its actual budget.
He made the response in a video message posted on his verified Facebook page on Saturday, reports UNB.
According to the film contract, Ananta was supposed to pay all the expenses for the film’s shooting in Bangladesh.
Claiming to have paid all the expenses according to the contract, Ananta said, “It is none of Morteza’s concern whether it costs Tk 10 million or 40 million for shooting here.”
He said the shooting of the film started in 2019 and completed by 2020.
“You can check my interviews on television, newspapers and social media before and after the film’s release. Did I say, I am the only investor of this movie? I have always said that I am the only investor for the shooting done in Bangladesh,” he added.
On 27 February last year, Morteza attended an event concerning the films 'Din: The Day' and 'Netri: The Leader' at a city hotel where he told Ananta he had spent much more money on shooting than the budget he fixed.
Ananta Jalil said, "I was not supposed to pay any shooting expenses abroad except our traveling cost and the air ticket.”
“So how can he say in his post that I did not pay him as per the contract?’ Ananta questioned.
“Morteza and I never had a dispute, till the release of the movie and I hope our relationship will stay that way in future as well. I believe, one day Murtaza himself will unmask those on whose interests he has done it,” said Ananta Jalil.
Morteza recently accused Ananta Jalil of violating the film contract through a post on his Instagram handle and the filmmaker has now come forward to "reveal" the actual budget of ‘Din: The Day’ to be USD 500,000.
This stands around 40 million, when converted in taka, which is nowhere near the more than Tk 1 billion budget earlier claimed by Ananta Jalil during the film’s promotion.
According to the Iranian filmmaker, Ananta was required to invest the entire amount for the movie in accordance with the previously signed contract between the parties.
As a result, Ananta would receive 85 per cent of the movie's earnings as an investor while Morteza would gain 15 per cent as the producer.
Following that, Ananta only compensated him with USD 24,000 instead of the promised USD 200,000. According to Morteza, Ananta would always cite COVID and "business loss" as his excuses whenever Morteza requested further payments.
The filmmaker, showcasing all the documents, asked in the post, "How can Ananta make the claim that the budget of the film is around USD 10 million when he didn't even pay the contractually obligated amount of USD 500,000, as per our 2018 contract, to our Iranian team?"