The Metropolitan Magistrate Bandra Court on December 2, directed the Bandra Police to file an FIR against director Ali Abbas Zafar, co-producer Himanshu Mehra, and others for charges including cheating, forgery, and defrauding producer Vashu Bhagnani. The case pertains to allegations made by Bhagnani, the producer of the 2024 multi-starrer film Bade Miyan Chote Miyan.
The court instructed the police to register the FIR under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using a forged document as genuine), 500 (defamation), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
On September 3, 2024, Vashu Bhagnani filed a complaint with the Bandra Police Station against Ali Abbas Zafar, Himanshu Mehra, and others, accusing them of fraud, forgery, criminal breach of trust, cheating, and misappropriation of crores of rupees by falsifying and forging his signatures during the production of Bade Miyan Chote Miyan. However, no action was taken by the police. Subsequently, Bhagnani approached the Bandra Metropolitan Magistrate Court seeking its direction to register the FIR.
According to the court’s order, Bhagnani signed four films with Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar in February 2021, including the action-comedy Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (B.M.C.M.). In November 2021, Bhagnani approached Ali Abbas Zafar to hire him as the director and writer for the film. Bhagnani alleges that Zafar, with a premeditated plan to defraud him, accepted the offer but conditioned on the appointment of Himanshu Mehra as co-producer and Ekesh, along with other associates, to manage accounts, audits, and related work. Zafar allegedly made these appointments based on false representations.
The film’s minimum production cost was set at Rs.125 crores, excluding the remuneration of lead actors, to be borne by Bhagnani. Despite these initial agreements, Bhagnani alleges that Zafar and his associates cheated and defrauded him during the film’s production and distribution phases.
Bhagnani alleges that Zafar demanded high fees immediately after entering the agreement in February 2022 but furnished the film script only in July 2022, breaching the contract. Another thing was part of the film was shot in the UAE, where Zafar and his associates allegedly stayed in costly hotels, ignoring prior arrangements made by Bhagnani, and incurred heavy expenses, violating the agreement. Despite an initial budget of Rs. 125 crores, the production costs escalated to Rs.154 crores due to Zafar and his team’s refusal to control expenses.
Bhagnani accused Zafar and his associates of violating several other agreements, leading to significant financial losses. Bhagnani claimed that despite approaching the Bandra Police Station with a complaint, no action was taken against Zafar and his team. He subsequently applied with the Metropolitan Magistrate Court, seeking a direction to register the offence and investigate the matter under the law.
The Metropolitan Magistrate Court, after reviewing the allegations and evidence, directed the Bandra Police to register the FIR against Ali Abbas Zafar and his associates.
