Shane Nigam's Veyil and Qurbani abandoned by producers association

Taking a stringent view of the grievances that has arisen between the makers of

Veyil

and

Qurbani

and actor Shane Nigam, the Kerala Film

Producers Association

has decided to suspend the two films. “Producers have been facing a difficult situation that they haven’t faced in the past 90 years, incited by this actor’s behaviour. Because of his continued tardiness, we have discussed with the other film associations, including AMMA, and arrived at this decision,” said M Ranjith, president of the association. “It has been decided, he will receive no support from the association until he pays the compensation on the production costs of these films.”

He said this is an exemplary disciplinary action for actors of the younger generation, and also suggested that actors caravans should be inspected for the presence of drugs.

The problems first surfaced in mid-October over Shane cutting his hair for Qurbani and claiming that Veyil producer Joby George threatened him for disrupting the continuity on the film.

Following intervention of the producers association, the actor agreed to shoot for another 15 days, but allegedly left the shoot again midway on November 21 saying he was being abused and pushed to work by director Sarath Menon. He then posted a picture on social media with a mohawk, which again put the look of Veyil and Qurbani in peril.

The producers association called a meeting today in Kochi to take a decision on the suspended shoot. As a first conciliatory step, the association has put forward the clause that the actor pay Rs 7 crore to meet the costs of these films and finish the dubbing work on

Ullasam

, helmed by Jeevan Jojo and produced by Joe and Christy Kaithamattam.