Morteza Atashzamzam, a renowned Iranian filmmaker and director of ‘Din: The Day,’ has decided to sue the lead actor and co-producer of the film, Ananta Jalil.
In a recent Instagram post from his profile the director wrote, "Ananta Jalil, he broke our agreement and contract, he did not fulfil his responsibilities and promises as we agreed together so he despoiled the half produced film from me although I was the main and major producer and he continued the production in his own way, by his own content and form and shapes, in contradiction with the main scenario as we had agreed.
In his Instagram post, Morteza Atashzamzam also said, "The only reason that I decided to produce a film together with Bangladesh, was to create a strong bond between Iranian and Bengali people, exchange the rich cultures in different aspects and get to know each other better as I believe art is the only universal language which breaks the borders. Day (rooz) is the name of the movie and nothing did happened as we planned and agreed together with Ananta Jalil…."
"In coming days, I will reveal the original contract and the main planned budget to make it clear for everybody because it is an important right for the public especially for media to know the truth and can distinguish the honesty with immorality.
"During the last four years, I mentioned to Ananta many times that it's the time to pay back his debt to Iranian team and he is free to remove Iran and Iranian team from the production but he never acts on his promises, such a shame!"
The legal prosecution is the only way to reveal the truth, said the director.
Since 2002, Morteza has directed and produced more than forty independent films, documentaries, and television series. He was also the director of the Bam Film Festival (2008 & 2010) in USA. The 2016 film Melancholy was his first feature film as a director.
‘Din: The Day’ was released on Eid-ul-Azha (July 10, 2022) and received a lot of attention from movie-goers. The film has reportedly opened in more than 100 film theatres across the country.
Shot in different locations of Iran, Bangladesh, Lebanon, and Syria, the film stars Ananta himself and wife, Afiea Nusrat Barsha, newcomer Sumon Faruk, and many other actors from Lebanon and Iran.
Ananta previously claimed that the film had a budget of more than Tk 100 crore.
