Vashu Bhagnani quashes rumors of selling off Mumbai office & relieving workforce after failures of recent films

The past couple of days have been inviting an array of rumors coming in especially when it comes to producer Vashu Bhagnani and his Pooja Entertainment office in Mumbai. Multiple reports suggested that the production house has run into problems after the box office failures of Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Mission Raniganj and Ganapath among other films.

Following that, it was reported that Bhagnani is set to sell off his office space that is of seven floors in Juhu to pay off Rs 250 cr debt. The report also suggested that they laid off 80 percent of their workforce.

Finally, Bhagnani responded to ETimes as he said that the building that people were talking about hasn’t been sold to anyone and instead gone into redevelopment into being a tower which will now have luxury homes as well. This was a plan they were thinking of since 1.5 years. He also mentioned that he was waiting for Bade Miyan Chote Miyan to release to begin with the redevelopment.

And as the office space is being re-developed, his team works from their old office which has been ‘lucky’ for him. Bhagnani also denied rumours that they have laid off 80 percent of their workforce and reiterated that they have had the same people working with him since 10 years and hasn’t asked anyone to leave.

The debacle of recent films from the production house led to these rumors.

Bhagnani also addressed that films working and not working are a part of the business and he is already working on their next project, an animation series which is being mounted on a large scale.

Bhagnani said that he had been in the business for the past 30 years. He stated that if there were people who claimed that they were owed money, they should come forward and talk to Pooja Entertainment.

He questioned whether those people had proper contracts with Pooja Entertainment and whether they had filed a case regarding the issue. He mentioned that there were many ways to sort the matter rather than ranting on social media. He assured that if there was an issue, it would be resolved and nobody was running away.

He invited them to come to his office, talk to them, provide their documents, and give them 60 days to figure things out. He emphasized that he would not buckle under any pressure or blackmail. He also added that they worked with production companies in the UK, and if those companies owed someone money, people should reach out to them directly.