More than a year ago, Reliance Entertainment had apparently paid ASA Productions the production costs for making the film, 1920 London. But it turns out that ASA Productions has still not completed the film; it is being said that they have only finished about 80-85percent of the film.
The film, that stars Sharman Joshi and Priyanka Chopra's cousin Meera Chopra in lead roles, is the third instalment in the 1920 franchise. It went on the floors last year and it was supposed to release early this year.
Says a source, `Reliance Entertainment had given money to ASA for the film a year and a half back and now they haven't finished the film. The film is stuck and Reliance has been constantly asking ASA to finish the remaining portions. Several mails have been sent but nothing constructive has happened so far.`
It may be pointed out that Vikram Bhatt was earlier a partner in ASA Productions but he left the company some time back. Now the face of the production house is Anju Bishnoi. ASA has been founded by Ajay Bishnoi of the Chennai-based Techpro Systems Ltd, which, incidentally, has also gone in for corporate structuring.
Interestingly, 1920 London is not the only ASA film that is stuck; Hate Story 2 and the Kunal Khemu-starrer Bhaag Johnny are two other films that have made no progress so far.
A source from the industry says, `People who have worked with ASA Productions have not been paid and to add to this, they are not finishing the film. If they finish one film, they will have to finish work on other projects as well.`
When contacted, Shibashish Chakraborty from Reliance Entertainment said, `Yes, it's true that there have been some cost issues and they have not delivered the film on time, but we are still trying to communicate with them and get things sorted. Several mails are being sent to them and we are even having meetings to settle this matter.`
Anju Bishnoi was not available for comment.
