According to documents available with this paper, National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) chairman Om Puri is alleged to have used his position to help ex-wife Seema Kapoor.
In April 2008, Om Puri was appointed the chairman of the NFDC. Around that time he entered into a relationship with his ex-wife,Seema Kapoor, who asked him to sanction a film for her. While hundreds of scripts were lying with NFDC after having gone through the proper channels and been approved by all committees, Seema Kapoor's Haat made the cut. Dates of submission was wrongly entered (to show it was lying in the pipeline for years all approved by required authorities) so that it did not arouse suspicion.
"The script did not go through any script committee or any special committee. Puri used every line in the bye-laws to his advantage," reveals our source. He passed Kapoor's Haat by using the ex post facto approval which allows the chairman to financially sanction a project superseding all the committees (special, script, accounts) and seek the approval of the Board when it meets next. This power is exercised very rarely and informally consulting the Board members and done only in case of eminent filmmakers.
In this case, when the Board met for its meeting, Puri had already alerted the directors about the project and sought their cooperation. Most of the members like Jahnu Baruah and Ketan Mehta, were aware of Kapoor being his ex-wife and his relationship with her and even if they did not see the viability of the project or felt offended for being superseded, kept quiet as not to get into the wrong books of the Chairman.
Moreover, the total budget of Haat was Rs 70 lakh but Puri sanctioned a crore and thirty lakhs in excess and fudged the accounts with the help of officials. The film was shot in the first quarter of 2009 and was ready by the last quarter of 2009. Since then, the film has been lying in the cans at NFDC and did the rounds of a few local film festivals.
In April 2008, Om Puri was appointed the chairman of the NFDC. Around that time he entered into a relationship with his ex-wife,Seema Kapoor, who asked him to sanction a film for her. While hundreds of scripts were lying with NFDC after having gone through the proper channels and been approved by all committees, Seema Kapoor's Haat made the cut. Dates of submission was wrongly entered (to show it was lying in the pipeline for years all approved by required authorities) so that it did not arouse suspicion.
"The script did not go through any script committee or any special committee. Puri used every line in the bye-laws to his advantage," reveals our source. He passed Kapoor's Haat by using the ex post facto approval which allows the chairman to financially sanction a project superseding all the committees (special, script, accounts) and seek the approval of the Board when it meets next. This power is exercised very rarely and informally consulting the Board members and done only in case of eminent filmmakers.
In this case, when the Board met for its meeting, Puri had already alerted the directors about the project and sought their cooperation. Most of the members like Jahnu Baruah and Ketan Mehta, were aware of Kapoor being his ex-wife and his relationship with her and even if they did not see the viability of the project or felt offended for being superseded, kept quiet as not to get into the wrong books of the Chairman.
Moreover, the total budget of Haat was Rs 70 lakh but Puri sanctioned a crore and thirty lakhs in excess and fudged the accounts with the help of officials. The film was shot in the first quarter of 2009 and was ready by the last quarter of 2009. Since then, the film has been lying in the cans at NFDC and did the rounds of a few local film festivals.
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