Exclusive | More crew members on 1920: Horrors of the Heart allege non-payments running into lakhs, share ordeal of 'excuses, exhaustion'

Troubles continue for Vikram Bhatt who along with his wife Shwetambari was granted interim bail subject to bail bonds on February 13 in a R30 crore fraud case Days after casting director Parag Chadha called out Bhatt for alleged nonpayment of dues on the 2023 film 1920 Horrors of the Heart more voices have come to the foreA crew member on the condition of anonymity told midday ldquoRs 20 lakh was the amount agreed upon as my fee Not a single penny was paid neither to my assistants nor to merdquoSneh Sharma is awaiting payment of Rs 1 lakh Another crew member alleged the makers owe them Rs 20 lakh1920 Horrors of the Heart was directed by Bhatts daughter Krishna Bhatt His wife is also credited as one of the producers It starred Avika Gor Danish Pandor and Rahul in lead roles While the primary actors were fully paid the crew alleges that it faced a common trajectory from the producers excuses delays and eventual shut downSneh Sharma who was Gors makeup artist on the film claimed she chased the production for months to get her dues To date one lakh of her total payment is pending She recalled ldquoWe kept following with the accountants executive producers Vikram Bhattrsquos team but none of them would give an answer My hairstylist was on the verge of getting kicked out of her house They paid us initially but during the second schedule we were told there were no funds Yet they went on to shoot another filmrdquoSharma whose fee was decided as R18000 per day alleged she got only half her fee by the time shoot finished and had to take the help of a cine workersrsquo association to get a part of her rightful pay I also contacted Krishna She dismissed it by saying she wasnt part of the accounts teamIn the meantime a few extra days of shoot for the film came up but Sharma put her foot down If youre not paying why would I come So they hired some other makeup artist for freeChadha who collaborated with Bhatt on as many as nine films in a span of three years admittedly had it much worse The casting director lamented ldquoI wasnrsquot paid even a per cent of my casting fees I worked on the film with my team of six people and I had to pay them It became a routine that every morning you would get up and call four people from the same production house who are telling you different things And you would hope ki kisi ki insaaniyat toh jaage But when the signing authorities arent paying what will people under them do The end of 2023 was the last time I connected with themWhat worked against the crew was lack of contracts A senior crew member told midday that when he mentioned to Bhatt the need of a contract he was told We are family He further shared The only thing that I have is an email from the office saying that this is the money that is still pending Apart from that I dont have anything A lot of people worked very hard in good faith But they were betrayed People cried on setWhile some didnt have the confidence to reach out to cine workers associations and unions owing to absence of contracts others were exhausted after months of ordeal and had little hope of any external help1920 Horrors of the Heart wasnt a standalone case According to Bhatts frequent collaborators this was a pattern which they overlooked out of respect and trust in longstanding partnershipsPayments were always delayed but you would eventually get it because they wanted the next job to be done But it never happened ki paisa saamne se aaya I had to ask 50 times to get my dues On 1920 Horrors of the Heart the team would constantly give you hope They never said that they wouldnt pay They would say We dont have it right now But it will come If they say we will not pay people will create a scene But the moment you get a little more firm saying I want the money to come in is when they disconnect you he claimedChadha had taken up casting duties of Bhatts Khilone which followed 1920 Horrors of the Heart but left midway I got the lead actor Anupriya Goenka on board But by that time the production house was nonresponsive to me So I left the film in the middle Jab 1920 ka paisa nahi mila toh Khilone ka paisa kaise maangta But I hear that none of the crew and cast from even Khilone has been paid he claimedA crew member who is due over Rs 40 lakhs from his longtime collaboration with Bhatt says I would get a part of the payment for a film then we would move on to the next and so on I never received the full payment for any film The backlog for my assistants also runs into lakhs which I have been paying from my pocketChadha has long bid adieu to the hope of getting his dues But he wants to speak up to spread awareness among upcoming artistes Its just something that needs to come out The more it comes out the better it is for the future generation People who earn Rs 50006000 per day are being pushed You want to create awareness that whoever works with such a production house should do it at their risk he saidHis Instagram post has hit a chord with many artistes and technicians in the industry But he admitted that he was initially reluctant to speak up about itI was scared all this while because we know how it is in the industry Even if you are right people can think This guy is trouble He puts it out on Instagram We dont want to work with a person like that And its not about delays We understand delays Ive been working for say 15 years in the industry nothing comes on time But the intent to kind of give the money to somebody whos worked for you was just not there in this production house he said