Fresh trouble for Kedarnath, three producers claim Prernaa Arora sold them rights

The troubles just don’t seem to end for Abhishek Kapoor and ‘Kedarnath’, and this time again, Prernaa Arora is the one who is reportedly causing him trouble.

After Ronnie Screwvala coming on board for producing the film, now Vashu Bhagnani's Pooja Entertainment, Gothic Entertainment and Kolkata-based Padma Ispat Private Limited have claimed that Prernaa Arora sold the movie’s rights to them.

A source told Mid-Day, "Ronnie and Abhishek were stunned when they received a copy of the legal agreement between Prerna and Vashu Bhagnani, which showed that she had sold Indian theatrical rights of her entire slate to him. Soon, they were approached by two more companies which made similar claims. Neither of the other former producers [Ekta Kapoor and Bhushan Kumar] were aware of these agreements."

Confirming that an NC has been filed against his estranged business partner, Abhishek said, "It's shocking to know that there are people in the business who think it's okay to sell assets that do not belong to them."

Aroraa, on her part, said, "Everything has now been sold to Ronnie Screwvala. But at no point did I or KriArj know about it [the sale] till we read it in the papers. I only had got a confirmation from T-Series and an NOC letter from them saying that Abhishek will return the R15 crore before the shoot. Regarding Vashuji, we had a long-term deal to make films together. But I had no time to inform him about the termination of the Kedarnath deal. Vashuji [must have] read it in the papers too, and approached Ronnie accordingly. I should have officially terminated my paperwork with Vashuji. Where Gothic and Padma Ispat are concerned, they have nothing to do with the film. This will be proved in the court."

Bhagnani said that the release rights rest with him. "I have been doing business with Prernaa for over a year. I was shocked to read that Ronnie has taken over the film when the rights are with me. He can't release the movie, without my consent, and until he pays me my money," he said.

Prernaa had earlier said ‘she happily let the film go’ after Ronnie paid her, Bhushan Kumar and Ekta Kapoor for their investment in the movie, but with the fresh trouble, it doesn’t look like Ronnie can get away with paying them without going into huge losses.