Set makers of Bol Bachchan bereft of their payment

It is dark below the glitter. Similar is the case of Shri Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Ltd. and Ajay Devgn’s latest comic caper Bol Bachchan. While the film is doing good business all over and has crossed the Rs 100 crore mark, the workers who constructed the sets for the film are yet to receive wages amounting to over Rs 24 lakh. It is said that two of Ashtavinayak’s cheques issued to the Allied Mazdoor Union, the film workers body, have bounced. “First, it was an Axis Bank cheque dated 30 June for an amount of Rs 24,55,654 favouring the Allied Mazdoor Union that was dishonored while the next, it was a Yes Bank cheque dated 15 July of the same amount that bounced,” said Vice Chairman of the Allied Mazdoor Union, Prem Singh Thakur. "The payment was in connection towards compensation to those who worked on the sets of Bol Bachchan. It was not a small amount but a whopping one of Rs 24,55,654. Though we have tried to talk matters out several times, we have yet not got convincing answers from them,” added Singh. "Isn’t it bad?” Singh asked. “When they have taken the services of these workmen in doing up the sets, isn’t it their duty to pay up. What is the point in giving cheques that have to bounce. Moreover, Bol Bachchan is supposed to have earned around Rs 100 crore. What is the harm in paying up this small amount, when their earning is huge? These workers were appointed on a daily wage basis. How would these workers, mostly Muslims, sustain themselves leave aside celebrate Eid that is round the corner?” Seems, woes of Ashtavinayak is a never-ending story. First it was financer Raju Shah taking the production house to Court over bounced cheques worth Rs 8 crore and dues worth Rs 36 crore. Next it was about Eros International filing a winding-up petition against Ashtavinayak in the Bombay High Court.