‘Din–The Day’ director threatens to sue Ananta Jalil

Celebrated Iranian film director Morteza Atashzamzam, who became a household name in Bangladesh after the release of Bangladeshi–Iranian action thriller ‘Din–The Day’, has announced he is suing the film’s producer and the male lead cast, Ananta Jalil, for 'violating terms of their contract'.

Morteza, a recipient of ‘special prize’ at the Baikal International Film Festival in Russia back in 2019, made the announcement through an Instagram post on Thursday, reports bdnews24.com.

Bringing allegation of violating the terms and conditions of the contract against Ananta Jalil, the Iranian director said, “He (Ananta) despoiled the half produced film from me although I was the main and major producer and he continued the production in his own way, by his own content and form and shapes, in contradiction with the main scenario as we had agreed”.

 “It was my decision to respect the Bengali people and find a solution with peace and communication but he has not left any other solution for me rather than to sue him and register my complain (sic) to the court in Tehran, Iran and follow up by an international lawyer to the court in Bangladesh,” reads the Instagram post.

Jalil and his spouse Afiea Nusrat Barsha, the film’s female lead, could not be reached for comments.

However, in a lengthy post published on Facebook later on Thursday, the much-talked-about filmstar Jalil dismissed all the allegations, saying all the issues Morteza mentioned on his Instagram post had been discussed extensively before the film went to post-production.

WHAT THE DIRECTOR IS CLAIMING

Claiming that the original title of the film was decided Day, which in Persian is rooz, Morteza noted: “….nothing did happened (sic) as we planned and agreed together with Ananta Jalil, he broke our agreement and contract, he did not take his responsibilities and promises as we agreed together.”

The first “one billion taka”-budgeted film in Bangladesh had kept the Bangladeshi film industry abuzz since the day the production began because of the astonishing budget, multi-country locations and CGI experimentation.

 “In coming days, I will reveal the original contract and the main planned budget to make it clear for everybody because it is an important right for the public specially (sic) for media to know the truth and can distinguish the honestly with (s immorality,” wrote Morteza.

 “During the last four years, I mentioned to Ananta many times that it’s the time to pay back his debt to (sic) Iranian team and he is free to remove Iran and (sic) Iranian team from the production but he never acts on his promises, such a shame”

JALIL LOOKING FORWARD TO A ‘PEACEFUL RESOLUTION’

Jalil termed the allegations “baseless” and suspects it is an “ill attempt at ruining the images of Bangladesh and him”.

Claiming that he has been a victim of numerous conspiracies since the day the film was released in July, Jalil wrote: “I believe this is such an attempt.”

 “We can sit together to find a resolution if Mr Morteza still sticks to his allegations,” reads the Facebook post.

The actor also presented multiple anecdotes in the post to argue his case of why he believes Morteza’s claims have no validity.

 “As the director, the raw footage belongs to him. I would, under no circumstances, have had access to those unless he agreed to pass them over to me after his bills were cleared. Tell me, if I owed him [Morteza] money, would he, being the main producer and director, hand those over to me for release?” reads the post.

 “It will be unfortunate if he was misled by a Bangladeshi or pulled this stunt for his fifteen minutes of fame by deceiving the media. In such cases, I will take legal action against him locally and internationally. I do possess a copy of the same deed.”