Martin VFX cheating case: Director AP Arjun in trouble?

Dhruva Sarja’s 5th film Martin should have been in theatres in September 2022, as per initial plans. But the film was delayed substantially, primarily owing to issues with completion of VFX work. Producer Uday K Mehta is gearing up to bring the film to theatres on October 11, but is also preparing for some legal battles against those who caused unduly delays, which have, in turn, caused the budget of Martin to go up multi-fold.

Last week, Uday had filed a police complaint against Sathish Reddy and Sunil Reddy, who’d been entrusted with the VFX work of Martin. The duo is alleged to have received payments to the tune of Rs 3 crore, but not delivered from their end, despite multiple follow ups. This forced Uday to seek out alternate resources to complete the work, adding to the budget further.

Sathish and Sunil were recently arrested by the Basveshwarnagar Police and the latest development is that the latter is said to have made certain allegations against the director of Martin, AP Arjun. According to TV reports, Sunil has alleged that Arjun received a Rs 50 lakh commission from the duo to get the VFX work of Martin allotted to them. At the time of Uday’s police complaint, there were whispers of a 3 accused in the case, which, is now said to be Arjun, although, the producer did not name him.

Fans to decide Martin update, but is film releasing on October 11? 

Reports, meanwhile, suggest that there have been similar allegations against Arjun in the past, including during the making of Mr Airavataa, starring Darshan in the lead. Back then, there were rumours of discord between Arjun and producer Sandesh Nagaraj and Darshan, after it was revealed that the VFX cost of Rs 1 crore was an inflated figure, with the actual bill not amounting to more than Rs 50 lakh.