Ashoke Pandit reacts to FWICE withdrawing notice against Ranveer Singh, hits back at Ram Gopal Varma: 'Not given ₹1.25 crore to the industry'

On Wednesday, FWICE withdrew its non-cooperation directive against actor Ranveer Singh over his last-minute exit from Don 3. The row over his exit has been one of the biggest industry standoffs in Bollywood in recent years, but the controversy refuses to die down.

The actor has also sent a legal notice, after which the directive was taken back. The ban was issued last month, on May 25. However, now, the filmmaker and FWICE chief advisor Ashoke Pandit, who had announced the non-cooperation notice, mistaken by many as a ban on the actor, has spoken about the withdrawal of the directive.

What has Ashoke Pandit said on the withdrawal of the notice?

Hours after the notice was taken back by FWICE, Pandit, in an interview with news agency ANI, said that the dispute didn't drag on much.

''We are not even blaming anyone. In the previous press conference, the federation had issued a non-cooperation against Ranveer Singh. We had received a complaint from Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani's Excel Entertainment and reacted to the same.''

Further, he also reacted to the comment made by Ram Gopal Varma, who criticised FWICE's notice. In the post on X, Varma publicly slammed the organisation, questioning its authority as he took the side of Ranveer.

''Today's press conference was to address the remarks made by filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma against the federation. We also wrote to the producers' body to stay in the loop so that a similar incident is not repeated in the future. We then received a letter from IMMPA to remove the non-cooperation and that they want to work on this together."

Hitting back at Varma’s comments, Pandit said that the filmmaker himself has unresolved issues, alleging that he still owes money to industry workers.

“Ram Gopal Varma himself has not given ₹1.25 crore to the industry, to our workers and technicians. He says, ‘Ban the federation’. This is a case from 2017. The picture was made, the picture was released, everything happened, but ₹1.25 crore is a very big amount for technicians and workers,” Pandit tells HT City.

Further, he added, “If we issue a non-cooperation directive against you, you say it is illegal. You are not giving money. Isn’t that illegal?” he asks.

Read about Don 3 full controversy here: