Actor-filmmaker Amol Palekar reflected in the legal battles in which he found himself Big shot producer BR Chopra. He said that he decided to take legal action against him after he refused to pay the amount due to him and threatened and intimidated him. He went against the advice of others, and eventually came out the winner. In an interview with The Lallantop, Palekar said that he stood by the producer and that he would not tolerate any kind of threats.
When asked how the fight started, he said, “Actually it was not a big deal. We made the film; Me, Parikshit Sahni and Rameshwari. It was called Agni Pariksha. During the shooting, Rameshwari met with an accident in the next set and injured her eye. The entire schedule was thrown for a toss, and production was delayed. When we were ready to resume, Parikshit had an accident. He fell off a horse and injured his back. There were further delays. But despite all these problems we completed the film.
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He said, ‘I had some salary left. It is common in the industry to complete all payments at the final dubbing stage. I was fine with finishing the dubbing, and waiting to get paid until later. Money did not come. I was asked to speak to Mr. Chopra. I told him I had given him no delay; In fact, I had even finished my dubbing. If he couldn’t pay me, I suggested giving him a lab letter saying the film wouldn’t be released until he paid all my dues. He was a big man, and he didn’t like what I said. He felt insulted. He said, ‘How dare you ask me for a lab letter?’
Palekar concluded, “He threatened to throw me out of the industry. I told him, ‘Mr Chopra, I have come here and made a name for myself without the help of crutches. How can you remove me from the industry? Is this your back garden? Let me see try’. And I filed a complaint against him. He was directed to deposit the amount in court. Several years later, I received five times the loan amount. A lot of people told me not to mess with him, and if he had been kind about it I wouldn’t have been. But he threatened me, and this is something I will never tolerate.”
BR Chopra was the elder brother of Yash Chopra, who branched out on his own and started the Yash Raj Films banner. BR Chopra had a production house called BR Films which produced films like New Daur, Waqt, Pathani and Woh.
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