EXCLUSIVE: Sajid Khan sends legal notice to Fox Star Studios for ‘Housefull 4’ director’s credit row?

It’s common knowledge that the Me Too movement that started last year, had hit menopause after the industry stopped standing by the cause. A lot of dead fish were out in the open and several industry insiders were called out for their sexual misconduct. But nothing really came out of the movement and a lot of people ridicule the film fraternity for not standing by it or showing solidarity.

One of the many accused in the controversial movement was ‘Housefull’ director Sajid Khan. Not one but as many as six women came out and shamed Sajid for sexually harassing them.

After several accusations levelled against Sajid, the entire team of ‘Housefull’ took a strong decision and asked Sajid to leave the project, which he had directed almost 70 per cent till then. Now, ‘Housefull 4’s promo is out and it releases on Diwali this year. A reincarnation comedy that is more like a comedy version of ‘Baahubali’, the producers Sajid Nadiadwala along with Fox Star Studios decided to not put Khan’s name in the director’s credit. This happened after Nadiadwala and Grandson gave full credit to Vikas Bahl for the recently released ‘Super 30’. Vikas too was one of the first few men to be called out in the Me Too movement.

A source reveals the whole inside story. “When Sajid’s name was outed, there was a series of meetings and discussions that happened. He, Akshay and Nadiadwala are thick as friends and they collectively decided that it would be better for the film to have him opt-out of it. At that point, a lot of pressure also happened in the fact that Akshay’s wife Twinkle Khanna, on the other hand, had strongly supported the movement. They had to show the door to Nana Patekar as well, who was shamed by Tanushree Dutta, who in fact started the Me Too campaign in Bollywood. Although Akki and Nadiad didn’t want things to pan out this way, they had to let go of their best friend Sajid. It was also Fox Star’s call as a producer to not give Sajid any directorial credit for ‘Housefull 4’ too. The international giant has a very different rulebook that they follow and they stuck to their firm decision since the revising committee has still not cleared Khan’s name,” shared the source.

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Now, we hear that the filmmaker has decided to take a legal route. “Sajid Khan is extremely miffed with everyone involved for the way things have turned out to be. He is not happy that he has got no credit for the film, which he has conceptualised and planned and even directed most of. He has sent a legal notice to Fox and asked them to give him due credit. From what we hear, Fox will fight the case according to their own guidelines and might even win it. But as of now, the team doesn’t want their film to ger affected at all, so they are in no mood to flare this up. But it’s true that Sajid has sent a legal notice marked to Fox Star and not Nadiadwala & Grandson,” shared another source close to the development. What needs to be seen is how things pan out from here onwards.

‘Housefull 4’ stars Akshay Kumar, Kriti Sanon, Riteish Deshmukh, Pooja Hegde, Bobby Deol, and Kriti Kharbanda in pivotal roles. It is presented and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala’s Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment and co-produced by Fox Star Studios. The film is slated to release on Diwali 2019.

Also Read: Akshay Kumar shares a ‘Housefull’ of ‘Good Newwz’ – watch video