UP liquor baron and Wave Cinemas owner Ponty Chadha’s death in a family shootout last week is a major setback for Bollywood. Chadha reportedly worked very closely with prominent filmmakers and had major stakes in many films, including the upcoming Sanjay Dutt-starrer, Zilla Ghaziabad.

It has been reported that Ponty had spoken to Bollywood financier Bharat Shah just a day before being killed in the shootout, and was scheduled to meet him over Zilla... at 4’o clock, about half an hour after the news of his death came in.

The film’s producer Vinod Bachchan confirms Ponty’s involvement in the film, adding that he was interested in distributing it and was up for a screening during the 4’o clock discussion he could never attend.

“Bharatbhai is closely involved with my film. He was in serious negotiation with Chadhaji for the worldwide distribution of our film. On Friday evening, at around 7 pm, Bharatbhai spoke to Ponty Chadhaji about screening our film for him. On Saturday morning, our representatives flew into Delhi with the film. Our appointment was at 4 pm. Our representatives were waiting at his office for Pontyji when the shocking news came at 3.30 pm,” Bachchan was quoted as saying by a web portal.

Wave Cinemas has in the past distributed several big-ticket films such as Kahaani, Ram Gopal Varma’s police drama Department, and the comedy OMG! Oh My God!

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