Leading Kannada film producer M N Kumar who has collaborated with Badshah Kichcha Sudeep on his career-best films including Ranga
SSLC, Kashi from Village, Manikya and Mukunda Murari, has cried foul that the actor has taken his remuneration in full for a film, which is yet to be greenlit.
Accusing the actor of not having committed to the project wholly, Kumar addressed the media at a press meet hosted by the Karnataka Film Chamber of
Commerce, where he shared, “I have produced four of his films till now. Mukunda Murari was our last collaboration. Post that, we had discussed another film,
with Sudeep as the lead and he had agreed to take it up too. I have already paid his complete remuneration, but he is yet to give me his dates for the film. I have paid him around Rs 9 crore, even paid Rs 10 lakh for the renovation of his kitchen because he asked me to, and additionally paid an advance to director Nanda Kishore and got the title for this film Muttatti Satyaraju registered with the film chamber. But now, he has announced a film with a Tamil producer. He had
assured me that he would start my film post Kotigobba 3 and Pailwan, but that did not happen. After that, he pushed it further by saying that he would take it up after."
The producer added further that Sudeep has been evasive by not answering his frantic phone calls and has apparently even changed his phone number. "He is not reachable. He is not even returning my calls. He has even changed his number. Every time I go to his residence, I am told that he is unavailable. I have even tried to reach him through the film chamber. We have now taken this to the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce as well. I am open to resolve this issue if Sudeep chooses to communicate things properly.”
The producer also assured that he would duly apologise if his claims were to be proven false. However, he was in the affirmative that he'd continue protesting if his pleas don't elicit a response. “If Sudeep does not respond in the next two days, I will hold a protest in front of his house.”
