Vashu Bhagnani says family suffered a lot due to bankruptcy rumours: ‘People said I didn’t have money to buy food'

Bollywood filmmaker Vashu Bhagnani denied bankruptcy rumours regarding Pooja Entertainment, clarifying that he redeveloped a building instead of selling it.

Following the box office failure of Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, rumours began circulating that Bollywood filmmaker Vashu Bhagnani’s production house, Pooja Entertainment, had defaulted on payments to crew members and had sold a building to repay debts. In a recent interview with Ronak Kotecha on his YouTube channel Reviewron, Vashu addressed the speculation, clarifying that he had redeveloped the building — not sold it — and dismissed claims of bankruptcy.

Vashu Bhagnani recalls how his family suffered due to his bankruptcy rumours.

Vashu Bhagnani recalls people claiming he didn't have money to buy food

Vashu recalled redeveloping his Juhu office, the same building that was in the news. He said, "They said I’ve had to sell it off because I’d gone bankrupt, that I didn’t have money to buy food, even. They said I’d run away. I don’t want to blame anybody for these rumours, but I don’t know how they started. What hurts me is, fine, I went bankrupt according to you, but if I’m selling a building to pay people, what’s wrong with that? I’m doing business, not a job. We went through the entire process, and okay, even if we didn’t pay — so what?"

Vashu Bhagnani talks about impact of rumours on family

He further revealed that people had started taking advantage of the situation and said, "Someone claims they didn’t get ₹10,000, another says they didn’t get lakhs — why didn’t you? When a man has been in the industry for 27 years, produced 50 films, and paid crores to people, no one talks about that. There must be some dispute on your end. Just a few days ago, I got a call from a girl who said, ‘Vashu ji, if you don’t pay me, I’ll go to the media.’ I said, ‘Please go.’ It’s a new opportunity for you. Even though I had nothing to do with the money she was demanding. My family has suffered a lot. We were wondering where we would go, what would happen next. Because every time we picked up the newspaper, people were talking, something negative would show up. But we have never cheated anyone."

In June last year, after the failure of Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, a crew member, Ruchita Kamble, accused Pooja Entertainment — run by Vashu and his son Jackky Bhagnani — of not clearing her payments on time. Later, a Bollywood Hungama report revealed that the seven-floor office of the production banner in Mumbai had been sold off to clear a ₹250 crore debt amid growing financial hassles.

Made on a budget of ₹350 crore, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan — starring Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Prithviraj Sukumaran and others in key roles — failed to attract audiences to theatres and ended up a box office dud, earning only ₹111.5 crore worldwide.