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The production house unwittingly found itself at the centre of
an imbroglio, when Sahara withdrew its involvement from the Ketan
Mehta/Bobby Bedi-produced film Mangal Pandey - The Rising,
last fortnight.
The reason: Entertainment One was financing the film and Sahara
has a stake in the company.
In an attempt break the ice, the production house has issued a
company release stating, "Sahara India is very much an integral
part of the The Rising and 'not mere guests at the mahurat
of the film' as misquoted by some section of the media."
The problem between Sahara and the producers began when the lead
actress Aishwarya Rai, who is incidentally a director with Sahara,
was ousted from the film by Bedi.
Immediately, Sahara decided to sever ties with the film and issued
a press statement saying, "We shall never continue any association
where the concerned people shall not care for the respect of our
Pariwar and Pariwar people... We should have been intimated and
consulted before Rai was so unceremoniously thrown out of the project."
Dragging Entertainment One into the issue, media reports had quoted
Bedi as saying, "Entertainment One is still financing the film
and that is what matters to us."
However, the company release issued by the production house clarifies,
"Probably due to lack of communication, some issues have been
misinterpreted regarding the role of Sahara in the film. We would
like to bring to light that we had entered a memorandum of understanding
with Sahara to financially assist a few film projects including
The Rising."
The release says, "It is unfortunate that due to a certain
issues related to Ms Rai, Sahara has had to take a stand to pull
out of the project, and we respect the decision."
The release concludes saying, "Entertainment One and Sahara
Pariwar would like to have a longstanding relationship in time to
come."
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