Martin release promotions: Here’s why director AP Arjun is missing in action

On October 2, the team of Dhruva Sarja’s next, Martin had a press briefing to kick off the final promotional activities ahead of the film’s October 11 release. Joining producer Uday K Mehta, Dhruva and heroine Vaibhavi Shandilya was most of the technical crew, with the notable absence of the captain of the ship, AP Arjun.

The trouble between Martin director AP Arjun and producer Uday K Mehta

The filmmaker, for whom Martin is the second collaboration with Dhruva, has been in the eye of the storm recently, after it was alleged that he facilitated certain work contracts related to the film, for a commission. Following the delay in the VFX work of the film, producer Uday Mehta had initiated legal action against those entrusted with the work for failure to deliver on the agreed upon terms and conditions, who, in turn, said that Arjun was the middleman who got them the job, for which he took a hefty commission.

Martin VFX cheating case: Director AP Arjun in trouble? 

Arjun, who in recent times had diversified into the food & beverage business, had vociferously denied any such wrong-doing, but the matter is currently in a court of law, which is why the filmmaker is not to be seen with the team.

However, much before these allegations came to the fore, there were whispers of discord between Uday and Arjun, which they’d tried to pooh-pooh earlier, but more recently, the director had admitted that there have been issues between the duo, and that they’d not been on talking terms. In fact, it was said that Dhruva too was at loggerheads with Uday, which they denied.

Martin on OTT: Dhruva Sarja’s action thriller locks post-theatrical streaming partner 

During the making of Martin, which took a good 3 years, there were rumours that much of the delay in production, way before the VFX fiasco, was because of other cast members, including Dhruva. The film’s whopping budget is largely down to the interests paid in in the last 3 years. In fact, the film’s release was doubtful only days ago, following which they got a new investor on board, which facilitated all the necessary NOCs required to get Martin in theatres.