After producer Manish Shah accused Kartik Aaryan of "unprofessionalism", the makers of Shehzada have stood up for the actor. In an interview with India Today, Shah had alleged that Kartik had threatened to quit the project if the Hindi version of Allu Arjun's Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo released in theatres. Shehzada is a Hindi remake of the movie.
Now, Shehzada producer Bhushan Kumar has told ANI that the decision to release the film was of the producers and not the actor.
"We, the producers, felt that Shehzada should release in the theatre first and not the Hindi version of Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo. Therefore, we requested Goldmines not to release the Hindi version, and release of the film is always the producers' decision and not the actor".Bhushan Kumar to ANI
Co-producer Aman Gill also spoke about the controversy. "After finding out about the Hindi Version release of Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, the producers requested Manishji to not release it. Kartik is going all out for Shehzada as an actor and only discusses how he can contribute to make this the biggest film for everyone involved, he is one of most dedicated actors in the industry," ANI quoted Gill as saying.
What Manish Shah Alleged
Shah told India Today, "The makers of Shehzada were not keen to release the Hindi version in cinemas. Also, Kartik Aaryan said if the movie was released in theatres, he would walk out of the film, which would have caused Shehzada producers a loss of ₹40 crores. It was extremely unprofessional of him.”
He added, "Shah told the publication, “I have known Shehzada producers for 10 years. I cannot have people who are close to me losing Rs 40 crores, so I dropped it. By doing this, I ended up losing Rs 20 crores. I spent Rs crores only on dubbing. I wanted this film to be bigger than Pushpa: The Rise.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)