Rajpal Yadav says he lost Rs 22 cr in cheque bounce case, chose jail over paying Rs 5 cr: ‘I will never settle’

Also Read: Rajpal Yadav says he wasn’t given any special treatment in jail: ‘I have learnt to live in all kind of conditions’

Rajpal was asked that even though he had work and money, why didn’t he repay Rs 5 crores? The actor explained, “This is exactly the point of my case, it’s not about not being able to pay Rs 5 crores. It’s too early to speak on why I went to jail or if I have the money or not. Had it just been a matter of Rs 5 crores, it would have been resolved in 2012 itself, but because of this Rs 5 crores, I have incurred losses of Rs 17 crores. That time, the matter was not in court, when the person jeopardized my film’s worth of Rs 17 crores. After this person saw 70 percent of the film, he invested another Rs 5 crores.”

He explained the issue in detail, “Rs 5-7 crores were to be spent on the film’s release, and the total production budget of the film was Rs 22 crores. Even if you are an enemy, you would not stop the project from releasing, especially when 10 others have also invested money in this. We have been talking about the intention behind giving these Rs 5 crores in 2012; my intention was good. What was my fault?”

The actor also recalled the scale of his film Ataa Pataa Lapataa which flopped on release, setting in motion the entire chain of events, “A film that was supposed to release on over 1000 screens, Amitabh Bachchan inaugurated its music album, but it was not even allowed to sustain for three days. He sank Rs 22 crores by just doing a press conference; his intention was bad, which cost me Rs 22 crores.”

“Since the last 10 years, I have been saying the same thing. The film had 200 artists, including Dara Singhji, but he made it an issue as if I owed him Rs 50 crores and absconded with it. When he had post-dated cheques already, then why did he bring a stay order on the film’s release? Soon after the High Court rejected their stay order, this party went and did an accusatory press conference. Because of this, the film could not be released in 200 screens either. I will keep fighting with him all my life over this intention; I won’t go in for a settlement,” Rajpal said.

Rajpal Yadav on Ataa Pataa Lapataa when it all started…

Earlier in an interview, SCREEN, Rajpal Yadav had explained what actually happened. He had shared, “It all started in 2005. I had a friend called Mithilesh Kumar who used to keep visiting me in Mumbai. I was busy with cinema. In 2008, there was a recession in India. I had 10-12 films on the floor, and all of them got delayed. There was a six-month-long strike; everyone was out of work, and money was stuck in the market, so our group decided to make something with theater artists. We decided to make a film called Ataa Pataa Lapataa.”

He added, “Mithilesh had been telling me for 4-5 years that he wanted to invest, and he offered it 25 times. In 2010, when I went to my village, Mithilesh mediated between Madhav Gopalji and me. I asked him to come to Mumbai and see everything; he came down and saw 70 percent of the film that was made. That evening, he offered to invest Rs 5 crore. Then he suggested doing a package with me, where, in return for Rs 5 crore, he wanted Rs 8 crores repaid after the film was released. I agreed, and an agreement was made in July; two more agreements were made at a gap of six months.”

Rajpal Yadav had also shared that he doesn’t intend to sell the film, but rather release 50-100 clips of it on social media. “To date, we have not sold the film’s satellite rights. I also don’t know if I will sell it to an OTT platform. But now that people know about it, I am getting 2-minute-long clips cut. The shooting went on for 76 days, and you will see how much money went into it. We didn’t bring 2500 people through CGI; they were real artists who shot at Film City. I just want everyone to see if the money was spent on the film or not. A total of 20-22 crore went into producing the film. I had mortgaged my land and taken a loan from the bank. But Rs 5 crore put Rs 20-22 crore at stake.”

Rajpal Yadav was released from Tihar Jail on 17 February after depositing Rs 1.5 crore in connection with the Rs 9 crore cheque-bounce case. He had surrendered on 5 February after the Delhi High Court rejected his plea seeking additional time to repay the amount. However, the court later suspended his sentence until 18 March, granting him temporary relief.

On the work front, Rajpal Yadav was last seen in Priyadarshan’s Bhoot Bangla. He will be next seen in Welcome To The Jungle.