Ananta: Whose interest Morteza serving?

Actor-producer-businessman Ananta Jalil has refuted the allegations of Iranian filmmaker Morteza Atashzamzam over the actual budget of the film ‘Din: The Day’.

He made the response in a video message posted on his verified Facebook page on Saturday.

According to the film contract, Ananta was supposed to pay all the expenses for the shooting of the film in Bangladesh.

Claiming to have paid all the expenses according to the contract, Ananta said, “It is not a matter of Morteza whether it cost Tk one crore or four crore for shooting here.”

He said the shooting of the film started in 2019 and completed by 2020.

“You can watch my interviews on television, in newspapers and on social media before and after the release of the film. Did I say that I am the only investor in this movie? I have always said that I am the only investor for shooting in Bangladesh.”

On February 27 last year, Morteza attended a promotional programme of the film ‘Din: The Day’ and ‘Netri The Leader’ at a city hotel where he told that Ananta spent much more money on shooting than the budget he had fixed.

In response, Ananta said in his FB post, “In all my interviews, I have mentioned the budget amount fixed by Morteza.”

Ananta said, “I am not supposed to pay the shooting expenses abroad. As per the agreement, I was supposed to pay the shooting expenses in Bangladesh, our travelling cost and the air ticket, and I bore all the costs.”

“So, how can he say in his post that I did not pay as per the contract?”

“If Morteza does not clear the shooting expenses in other countries, the liability is not mine.

Anata also said the Dolby certificate is not required for film release in Iran as their post-production is already quite advanced.

“Till the release of the movie, Morteza and I never had any problem in our relationship. I hope there won’t be any problem in the future either. I believe that one day Murtaza will clarify whose interests he served making the allegations.”

Morteza recently accused Ananta Jalil of violating the conditions of the film’s agreement through a post on his Instagram profile; and as promised during his initial criticism of Ananta Jalil, the filmmaker has now come forward with a post on his Instagram account to “reveal” the budget of “Din - The Day,” which is $500,000, or Tk 4 crore.

But throughout the promotional activities of the film Ananta claimed the budget to be Tk 100 crore.

According to the claim of the Iranian filmmaker’s Instagram posts, Ananta was required to invest the entire amount for the movie as per the contract. As a result, Ananta would receive 85 per cent of the movie’s earnings as an investor while Morteza would gain 15 per cent as the producer.

Following that, as director’s remuneration, Ananta has paid only $24,000, instead of $200,000 as mentioned in the contract, Morteza alleged.

According to the Iranian director, Ananta would always cite Covid and “business loss” as his excuses whenever Morteza requested further payments.

The filmmaker, showcasing all the documents, asked in the post, “How can Ananta make the claim that

the budget of the film is around $10 million when he didn’t even pay $500,000, as per our 2018 contract, to our Iranian team?”