Bharath-Milap: Alia Bhatt Reportedly Intervenes To Resolve ₹38 Crore Family OTT Dispute As Mahesh & Mukesh Bhatt Hint At Reconciliation

Suddenly, there’s an element of hope that 78-year-old filmmaker, Mahesh Bhatt and his younger sibling, 74-year-old, producer Mukesh Bhatt, who produced the approximately, ₹146-crore super-hit, Awarapan 2 ‘may’ kiss and make up. Around the time of starting this movie, he spoke affectionately to the media about his elder sibling.

Air around the brothers is no longer tense

“Mahesh is not just an elder brother to me, he is more a father figure,” said Mukesh. He added, ”When Vishesh took over the reins of our production house and started work on Awarapan 2, he got a beautiful message from Mahesh who gave Vishesh his blessings. I was so emotional that day.”

This is great news. After all, the Bhatts had carefully hand-built their film-empire. Their split (is it temporary?) in 2021 left a nasty taste in the cinema-industry. Theirs was a respected banner; safely curating mid-level content combined with great music. Their roster has many money-spinners.

Money divided them temporarily...

Money was the divisive element. Five years ago—in mid-2021 to be precise, siblings Mahesh and Mukesh ended their 30-year-old professional partnership at Vishesh Films. These brothers were good together and had put up an awe-inspiring roster of Aashiqui, Murder and Raaz and more.

The bone of contention

Widespread rumours said that differences cropped up when Mukesh reportedly did an OTT-deal, the details of which Mahesh was in the dark about. Rumours are that there was a war of words exchanged. When asked by the media, both brothers did not weigh in on their differences. However, the fact that Mahesh stepped out of the Vishesh Films office in Khar and didn’t return, was a clear signal of their estrangement.

Publicly, they remained neutral

At a casual meeting with Mahesh, we asked him about his split with his younger brother and he said, “it’s being settled. Nothing further to say.”

Mukesh on the other hand said he felt sad when he was left out of Alia Bhatt’s intimate wedding ceremony to Ranbir Kapoor on April 14, 2022. He also repeated that “he’s a father-figure” sentiment.

Despite their physical, personal and professional differences, evidently visible to the world, both brothers, now in their 70s, have stated that their familial bond is alive.

Mukesh now celebrating

Today, Mukesh has reason to celebrate. His son, Vishesh who was credited as co-writer alongside Kunal Deshmukh for the super-hit, Jannat (2008) and as producer for the average, Murder 3 (2013) has just had his first major solo hit as producer in Awarapan 2.

An old debt settled

A reliable source said, “A while ago, Alia Bhatt and her financial advisors, saw Mahesh allegedly get something to the tune of ₹38 crore as payout on the OTT deal.” An insider confirmed, “It was her superstar influence that saw the transaction go through smoothly.”

Ball in Bhatt’s court

We sent a message to Alia asking her whether her father and uncle will reunite. And, how she had overseen her father getting his due in the Vishesh Films OTT deal. We had not received a reply till the time of going to press.