New Delhi: Filmmaker Puri Jagannadh's ‘Liger’ starring Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Panday turned out to be a box office dud. Recently, there were reports that the distributors of the film met Puri to compensate for their losses.
Now the director has filed a police complaint against distributors including Warangal Sreenu and Shoban Babu for allegedly blackmailing and threatening him. The complaint also states that the distributors have threatened to protest against his house if he doesn’t settle the losses.
In the complaint, Puri has revealed that he had paid all his dues to distributor Warangal Sreenu but he defaulted payments to the sub-distributors. The complaint also states that Srinu is instigating other distributors against the director.
Puri Jagannadh also mentioned in the complaint that Sreenu will instigate violence and enter his house in Hyderabad and harass his family members, including his mother, wife, and kids.
Earlier, an audio clip of the director had also gone viral, in which the filmmaker is saying that he doesn’t owe anyone money. "Are you blackmailing me? There is no need for me to return the money. I am still doing it because the distributors faced losses. We convened a meeting and decided on an amount. I informed them that I would make the payment within a month. Despite agreeing to the terms, they are now overreacting. This makes me question my decision to refund the amount. I am returning the money for honour. But, if you destroy that, I won't give you a single penny," he can be heard saying in the video clip.
Ram Gopal Varma had also shared a screenshot of Whatsapp messages on Twitter that revealed distributors planning to team up against Puri Jagannadh and demand compensation for the loss incurred due to Liger’s failure. The message also pointed out that the 83 distributors were affected by 'Liger'.
Vijay Deverakonda’s Bollywood debut was one of the highly anticipated films of this year but the film’s box office response sent shock waves across the film industry.