Ram Gopal Varma is returning to Mumbai’s underworld with Police Company, headlined by Harshvardhan Rane as Daya Nayak. Inspired by the Mumbai Police’s crackdown on organised crime, the film revisits the violent period following the Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan split. However, the film faced trouble as its shoot was halted over non-payment of dues to workers.
RGV’s Police Company shoot halted over dues
The Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) members halted the shoot of Ram Gopal Varma’s upcoming crime thriller Police Company over unpaid dues to technicians and crew members. The film was being shot at a set in Versova, where production remained stalled for nearly five hours as the federation sought clearance of the outstanding payments. According to TOI, the dispute stemmed from dues that have reportedly remained unpaid for nearly nine years and relate to three of Ram Gopal Varma’s earlier films. Later, RGV transferred Rs 1.11 crore, and the shoot was resumed.
The FWICE president stated to Times of India, “Varma, who owed money to technicians and daily-wage workers for three projects, including Sarkar 3 (2017) and Officer (2018), had written a letter to us in 2019, assuring us that the dues would be cleared at the earliest and requesting that he be allowed to continue working. We kept following up with him, but he continued to avoid the issue. We contacted him again when we learnt that he was preparing to shoot his next project, but for almost a month, we were told that the payment would be made shortly and were asked not to take action.”
He added, “On Monday, we had no choice but to stall the shoot. We asked the cameraman, fighters and members of the lighting department not to work until the payment was made.”
Ram Gopal Varma upcoming movies
Ram Gopal Varma has confirmed he is working on Sarkar 4, nearly nine years after the last instalment of the Amitabh Bachchan-led franchise. Speaking at the Red Lorry Film Festival, he also announced a new thriller titled Syndicate.
“After a long time, I came back to Mumbai recently, and I took one decision that enough is enough. It might seem a very high-handed statement, but I decided I wanted to make a film to wash away all my sins and shock everybody. The film is called Syndicate. I am also making Sarkar 4,” he said as the crowd erupted into applause.
