'Din – The Day' budget was Tk4cr, not 100, says Iranian director

Iranian filmmaker Morteza Atashzamzam co-producer of Ananta Jalil starrer "Din - The Day" has said that the budget of the film was Tk4 crore, not Tk100 crore.

Morteza took to social media recently and claimed there has been a breach in the terms of agreement with Ananta Jalil.

He wrote on his Instagram that he will "expose" the budget of "Din – The Day", as he had promised.

Morteza said that the actual budget for the film was USD 500,000. When converted to taka, this amounts to around Tk4 crore. Whereas, Ananta Jalil claimed the film's budget was Tk100 crore.

The director said, according to the agreement, Ananta was supposed to provide the entire budget for the film as an investment.

As an investor, Ananta would take 85% of the film's profits, and Morteza would take the remaining 15% as the producer.

Morteza wrote on Instagram, "When Ananta didn't pay the full USD 500,000 to our Iranian team, how can he say that the budget of the film is around USD 10 million?"

He also said they had disagreements over script, which made them constantly change things.

"Since 85% of the film takes place in Bangladesh, Ananta would constantly disagree with my vision of the movie, on the pretext that he better was aware of what the Bangladeshi audience wants in a movie than me."

The director alleged that Ananta Jalil would cause delays during the film's shooting, making excuses about 'work pressure' or prior 'business arrangements'. 

While shooting in Turkey, they did a scene where a woman was dancing 'indecently', which he said was apparently a violation of their agreement, and he figured that Ananta probably had no respect for the culture and regulations of the two countries.

The shooting cost for the film was also apparently increased due to negligence on part of the actor. Ananta allegedly did not make proper payments to the crew, which made Morteza stop shooting.

After consulting with a few well-wishers, and a promise from Ananta to pay all the dues, the director resumed shooting.

The post also stated that on two occasions, Ananta summoned Morteza to Bangladesh and India, but only paid him USD 24,000 instead of USD 200,000.  Anytime Morteza asked for further payments, Ananta would give the excuse of COVID and 'business loss', according to the Iranian director.

Morteza said he had shared a meal with Ananta and Barsha at their house, and was simply "extending an olive branch out of respect," which is why he was silent about these issues all this time.

The director also posted pictures of the agreement signed, which stated that Ananta Jalil would pay for the budget of USD 500,000 in six installments. The agreement also stated that the film was supposed to be released within 8 months of the contract signing—the contract was signed on October 18, 2018.