Crisis on the sets of Jodha Akbar; 90 unit members quit in one go...find out more

Balaji Telefilms’ Jodha Akbar has managed to make its place in the TVT charts by becoming the top most show on Zee TV. Really good on that front…but off screen lot of drama is unfolding on the sets. Well, the latest is that 90 people from the production team which included the creatives, assistant directors, setting boys and the spot boys walked out of the show on 15 September 2013. Yes, Jodha Akbar has seen a mass exodus. Does this mean the show is in jeopardy? It could have been. But the soap queen Ekta Kapoor has managed to find replacements in a jiffy. After all, in a labour intensive country like India, when one talent walks out, ten walk in. But why the mass exit? As per a reliable source, the unit had been facing major issues with Director of the show Santram Verma, as he has been torturing the unit members without any rhyme or reason. We hear that Santram is very “bosy” and he likes people greeting him and following his instructions without any protest or so. And he makes life miserable for the ones who disagree with him. This is exactly what happened with most of the members of the unit. Therefore, they went on to share their grievances with Producer Ekta but she paid no heed to any of it. Hence, the unit finally decided on leaving the show. On 15 September 2013, the show saw a mass walkout. Furthermore, we hear that many actresses too are facing the same issue with the Director and they have talked about it with the producer/creatives but no action has been taken against Santram yet. We at Tellychakkar.com contacted Santram who heard the story patiently and disconnected our call. We tried calling him a couple of times more but he did not revert. Producer Ekta Kapoor responded saying, “Check your facts.” When asked her what the facts are, she chose to maintain a dignified silence. However, an actor on grounds of anonymity confirmed the same and said, “He has made like difficult for everyone. He tortures and provokes people intentionally. He has gone ahead and humiliated people on various occasions but, nothing has been done about it.” It’s unfortunate to hear that an entire unit was ‘let go’ for one “not so happy go lucky” Director.