Two days back, the announcement video of Scam 2010 - The Subrata Roy Saga was released and it became a big talking point. Hansal Mehta, who directed Scam 1992, will direct Scam 2010. The announcement led to a lot of excitement among the fans of the series. But one person who was left aghast was Sandeep Singh. He has the rights to the life of Subrata Roy. In fact, on his birthday last year, he even announced the biopic Saharasri. Hence, shocked by the announcement of Scam 2010 - The Subrata Roy Saga, he has decided to take legal action against Hansal Mehta, producer Sameer Nair of Applause Entertainment and the streaming giant, Sony LIV.
Speaking exclusively with Bollywood Hungama, Sandeep Singh minced no words as he said, “The director, Hansal Mehta, was a good friend of mine. We worked on Aligarh (2016) together. He has the ability to pick up negative stories because he himself is a negative man. One day, his karma definitely will answer him. His karma is already answering him slowly.”
Sandeep Said then said, “Everybody knew, including Hansal Mehta, that I announced Saharasri last year and that I have been working on this film since 2019. Yet, he has gone ahead and made the announcement. He even made the conclusion that it was a scam, which even the Supreme Court has not concluded so far. I don’t know who gave him the right to do that. It’s a money-making racket which he falls for and I think he definitely wanted to do that through the Scam series. God bless him for that. But neither I nor Sahara India Parivar will take it lying down. We are going to the court. We’ll go against the director, the production house and the channel. We’ll try and stop this show because the official rights of Subrata Roy are with us and my banner, Legend Studios.”
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Sandeep Singh then revealed how he managed to bag the rights, “I had met Mr Subrata Roy over lunch, for which he had invited me. I told him, ‘Dada, main khaana khaate waqt aapse ek gift chaha raha hoon. Maine suna hai ki aapke yahaan se koi khaali haath nahin jaata’. He asked me what I wanted from him. I expressed the desire to secure his life rights so that I could make a film or show on him. He did not say anything at first. But after lunch, he offered me mishti doi and said, ‘Yeh lo. Munh meetha karo. If I decide to give my life rights, it’ll be to you’. I asked me, ‘Dada, you know everybody in the industry. And yet, if you want to give me your rights, I’ll be very grateful’. He replied, ‘Yes, and it’s because of your intention. You are not here to make money. You are not here to give out the wrong story. Jo sachhai hai, woh tum dikhaao’.”
Talking about his research, the producer stated, “I met Tihar jail officials, the lawyers, Kapil Dev, Akhilesh Yadav, Virender Sehwag, his friends including the ones in the industry, etc. I recorded what they said about him. We even worked on the casting. Then last year, he passed away. That shook us and things came to a standstill. Then yesterday, when I saw the announcement video, we all were left shocked.”
Sandeep Singh also revealed, “Sameer Nair called me and my director (Sudipto Sen) to his office a few months ago. He gave us the proposal to do Scam’s next season with us since we have the rights to Subrata Roy’s life. We rejected the offer and categorically told him that his is not a scam story. He said, ‘If you are uncomfortable with the proposal, then no worries’. And few months later, they shocked us and cheated us by announcing Scam 2010. But they’ll have an answer from us very soon and we’ll make sure that they step back.”
Did Sandeep Singh call Hansal Mehta or Sameer Nair after he saw Scam 2010’s announcement video? Sandeep Singh retorted, “Did they try to speak to us before putting out the teaser? Our announcement came out last year on his birthday. Yet, why did they do so? The onus of having ethics falls on them, not on me. Hansal Mehta and Sameer Nair have known me for more than 15 years. They should have called and asked, ‘We are going ahead with Scam 2010. Is that okay?’. They knew that the rights were with me.”
Sandeep Singh said he’s saddened by the fact that going by the format of the series, it’ll show Subrata Roy in a negative light. “Hansal Mehta and Applause Entertainment think that they are bigger than the Supreme Court of India. They have concluded that it’s a scam though the Supreme Court has not even concluded that in the last 10 years. The case is still going on. Yet, they made this announcement as they wanted to have publicity and make money. This is where Bollywood fails because we cheat our friends and we tell the wrong story without knowing the facts,” he said.
He signed off by saying, “We have roped in an actor. When the right time comes, we’ll make the announcement. Meanwhile, this cheap publicity needs to be fought with. It’s a tough battle actually. Here was a man who never ran out of India, like other businessmen. Everyone else flew out but he didn’t. He went to the Supreme Court when he was caught. He got jailed and he came out. Everyone knows that he has provided the maximum employment after the Railways in India.”
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