Filmmaker Puri Jagannadh and producer Charmme Kaur were questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) last week over the funding of their last release ‘Liger’. The Vijay Deverakonda-Ananya Pandayy starrer was directed by Jagannadh and had Bollywood’s Karan Johar on board to present the film in Hindi. Despite being aggressively promoted as a pan-India film, ‘Liger’ failed at the box office.
The ED summoned Puri and Charmme following reports that money used to fund the film came from a foreign source, which is a clear violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) of 1999. A media report quoted a source as saying, “The ED officials wanted to know the name of the company or individuals who funded the movie. They strongly believe that the money used to fund the movie came from abroad. They’re investigating to check if any of this funding was in violation of FEMA.”
‘Liger’ had opened to lately middling response from the audiences with most calling the film “formulaic” and a “wasted opportunity” for Vijay who spent three years on the project.
On the work front, Puri was set to work again with Vijay on another project titled ‘Jana Gana Mana’. It was also announced that the film will be released in August 2023. However, the project was later dropped.
