Producer Manish Shah of Goldmines Telefilms, who has the rights to the Hindi version of the Allu Arjun-starrer Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, said that Kartik Aaryan threatened to ‘walk out’ of Shehzada if the dubbed version was released. In a recent interview, Shah further said that Kartik’s exit would’ve caused the producers of Shehzada to lose Rs 40 crore.
Manish Shah told India Today, “The makers of Shehzda were not keen to release the Hindi version in cinemas. Also, Kartik Aaryan said if the movie was released in theatres, he would walk out of the film, which would have caused Shehzada producers a loss of ₹40 crores. It was extremely unprofessional of him.”
Shehzada is the official Hindi remake of Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo. Goldmines Telefilms had posted a statement on Twitter announcing that the makers of Shehzada and Manish Shah had come to the unanimous decision to not release the Hindi dubbed version in theatres. Shah had earlier released the Hindi version of Pushpa: The Rise.
Shah told the publication, “I have known Shehzada producers for 10 years. I cannot have people who are close to me losing ₹40 crores, so I dropped it. By doing this, I ended up losing ₹20 crores. I spent ₹2 crores only on dubbing. I wanted this film to be bigger than Pushpa: The Rise.”
He added, “If I do not release the film I lose money, so now I am releasing it on my channel. I would not have done anything for Kartik Aaryan, I only did this because of Allu Arvind. Why would I do this for a Bollywood hero? I don't know him."
The statement released by Goldmines Telefilms read, “Manish Shah, promoter of Goldmines along with the makers of Shehzada have jointly decided to withdraw the theatrical release of Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo Hindi version. Shehzada makers are thankful to Manish Shah for agreeing to the same.”
Shehzada is being co-produced by Allu Aravind, who also produced the original Allu Arjun film. Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo was directed by Trivikram Srinivas and stars Allu Arjun, Tabu, and Pooja Hegde. The Kartik Aaryan-starrer is scheduled to release on 22 November 2022.
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