The producers of the Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor starrer Stree have been embroiled in a financial dispute over sharing of profits. The film, which released in August, is one of the biggest hits of the year, grossing over Rs 100 crore at the box office. It was a horror comedy by debutant director Amar Kaushik.
Stree was jointly produced by the directors Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK (popularly known as Raj & DK) under D2R Films, and Dinesh Vijan under Maddock Films. According to a TNIE report, the initial agreement between the two parties was to split profits equally. The report says Vijan has refused to honour the agreement alleging Raj & DK hadn’t contributed financially to the movie.
A source close to D2R films says Vijan is ready to share only Rs 5 crores with Raj & DK. He says, “Stree is out and out Raj & DK’s creation – from writing the script, story, and screenplay, getting Amar Kaushik (the assistant director of their film Go Goa Gone) to direct the film, or getting Rajkummar Rao to star in it.”
“Raj & DK were already underway with the production when Dinesh contacted them and convinced them to let him be part of the project. Not only did they oversee the shoot throughout the schedules in Chanderi and Bhopal, but were also leading every single process from casting, finding crew, recce, shooting, editing, music, mixing and the final cut,” the source said.
He added, “Everyone who worked on the film — the actors and the crew — know their contribution to the film.”
Another source close to Vijan’s Maddock Films responded to this, and said Raj & DK had defaulted on their contract, and had tried to snatch credit from Amar Kaushik and the film’s additional dialogue writer Sumit Aroraa.
According to the source, it was Dinesh Vijan who got most of the male actors on board and oversaw production.
Dinesh’s Maddock Films is also producing director Amar Kaushik upcoming film Bala starring Ayushmann Khurrana and Bhumi Pednekar.
Dinesh, along with Saif Ali Khan, was also one of the founding members the production house Illuminati Films. Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, the director-producer-writer duo have made movies like Shor in The City, Go Goa Gone and A Gentleman.
