Indian actor and MP Sunny Deol has been accused of cheating and extortion by film producer Sorav Gupta. In a press conference, the producer accused him of forgeries, extortion, and dishonesty. Gupta stated that Deol never completed the project despite taking an advance payment of INR 4 crore (USD 480,425) from him in 2016.
Sorav told Hindustan Times that Sunny had cheated him on money, and expressed, “We gave him ₹1cr in advance but instead of starting my film, he opted to shoot for Poster Boys (2017) instead. He kept asking me for more money and by now my ₹2.55cr was in Sunny ji’s account. He also made me give money to another director, book Filmistaan studio and get an executive producer.”
The producer also revealed that the Gadar 2 actor forged an agreement with his company in 2023. “When we read the agreement, humne dekha ki unhonein toh panna hi change kar diya beech wala, jahan par fees ka amount ₹4cr ko badha kar ₹8cr kar diya aur profit to ₹2cr kar diya,” he said. (When we read the agreement, we saw he changed the terms. Increased his fees from INR 4 crore to INR 8 crore (USD 960,850) and asked for profit worth INR 2 crore (USD 240,212).)
This press conference had notable filmmaker Suneel Darshan, who supported Sorav’s statements that he made to the press, and stated that he too had faced the same issues with the Gadar 2 actor.
Sharing his experience of working with Sunny Deol, Suneel Darshan added, “Sunny Deol acquired rights from my movie Ajay (1996) for overseas distribution and only made a partial payment. The balance payment never came through. Later, Sunny requested me to work on a project with him, saying, ‘Have faith in me, help me out’, and got me to pay him again.”
On the work front, Sunny returned to the screen with a massive hit in the form of Gadar 2, which was released in 2023. The film also featured Ameesha Patel.
He will be next seen in the sequel of his 1997 movie, Border. The film will also star Ayushmann Khurrana, and he will be reportedly playing the role of an Indian Armed Forces officer.
(The article is published under a mutual content partnership arrangement between The Free Press Journal and Connected to India)
