03 June,2026 03:32 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Ram Gopal Varma (Pic via Google Images)
On Wednesday, the FWICE (Federation of Western India Cine Employees) held a press conference to revoke the non-cooperative directive issued against actor Ranveer Singh in Don 3 row. During the press meet, FWICE's Chief Advisor Ashoke Pandit also hit back at filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma for suggesting that the federation should be banned while supporting Singh. He made a shocking revelation that RGV himself owes the technicians more than 1 crore for his movie Officer.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Ashoke Pandit disclosed, "We live in a democratic country, and hence everyone is entitled to their opinion. But we would like to tell the world today that Ram Gopal Varma owes more than a crore and 25 lakhs to the technicians and to the workers."
He clarified that they are not sharing this information in an attempt to take revenge on the 'Satya' maker, but are simply trying to remind him.
"This case has been going on since 2017. He made a Telugu feature film named 'Officer". The Federation was constantly trying to resolve the matter, but in 2019, Ram Gopal Varma wrote a letter to the Federation asking for an extended deadline on the overdue," he added.
After this, Ashoke Pandit went on to read the letter penned by RGV to the federation, excerpts from which went, "We have made a film named 'Officer' and for the same, there are outstanding payments to be made to the federation, associate members, and other vendors. We as a company, understand that it has been 20 months that these payments have been long outstanding and we are fully aware and accountable for each and every due to be made, respectively. We hereby request a final timeline by which we shall make the entire outstanding payment to the federation and the respective vendors. We request you to provide, as the final deadline, 4th of March 2019, to clear the entire payout list."
Ashok Pandit revealed that despite the deadline having passed long back, the payments have not been made. He even demanded an apology from the filmmaker.
On May 29, Ram Gopal Varma had tweeted calling FWICE a 'kangaroo court', after it imposed a non-cooperation directive against Ranveer Singh.
"FWICE is neither a court of legal justice nor a government-authorised regulatory body , and at best it's a kangaroo court , which by definition pretends to deliver justice, but in fact it disregards established legal rules, due process, and impartiality," RGV had written on X.
However, FWICE decided to revoke the ban on Wednesday after the Dhurandhar star sent a legal notice to the organisation.
