It must be a record of sorts. A film, produced by a regular producer (Shailesh Singh who has films like Tanu Weds Manu and Thalaivii to his credit) and backed by one of the most prolific companies of the Hindi film industry (Super Cassettes Industries Pvt. Ltd.), had to be released incomplete.
This week’s release, The Ladykiller, will go down in history as a film which was released even though several days of shooting remained to be done. And why did this happen? Because Super Cassettes declined to pay the producer anything more than the budgeted amount.
It is said that the producer spent the entire budgeted amount in a single schedule of the film but did not complete the shooting. At least eight to ten days’ shooting was balance and so were the instalments of lead actors Arjun Kapoor and Bhumi Pednekar, besides other cast and crew members. That’s when Super Cassettes became tight-fisted, refusing to part with a single rupee over and above the budgeted amount.
Shailesh Singh had, in the meantime, finalised his deals with Netflix (for digital release) and Sony (for satellite release). There was no music company on the scene as the film has no songs.
Shailesh Singh had two options — to arrange for more funds to complete the film and then release it, or to release the unfinished product. No self-respecting producer would go for the latter option but that is exactly what Singh did. He released the thriller (this week) without completing the shooting. What thrill must he have got in doing so, you are apt to ask. Well, if he hadn’t released it theatrically, he wouldn’t be able to stream it on Netflix or telecast it on Sony. And that would’ve meant, he wouldn’t have got the contracted amounts of money from Netflix and Sony.
So to recover his cost and pay back Super Cassettes, he released an incomplete film — that too, in obscure cinemas in some places. Like, it opened today (November 3) only in Thane district but not a single cinema of Bombay city and suburbs.
That The Ladykiller is an incomplete film that has hit the screens is an open secret. OTT platforms like Netflix will henceforth tighten their fists even more, now that they have realised that they are being given unfinished films to stream.
So whose loss is this? Besides the producer’s, the presenter’s and everyone associated with the film, it is the loss of the entire trade in the long run.
Shameful indeed!