Khichdi actor JD Majethia was one of the producers who associated with Indrani Mukerjea for curating shows for her channel. In a recent interview, actor-producer JD Majethia recalled Indrani Mukerjea still owes him Rs 35 lakhs for his show before she was charged as the main accused in the alleged murder of her daughter Sheena in 2015.
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Indrani had co-founded INX Media with her ex-husband Peter Mukerjea and collaborated with many producers for curating shows for her channel in 2007.
Just two years later, Indrani and Peter stepped down from their management roles, making several producers go through financial distress.
In a recent interview with Hindi Rush, JD Majethia shared how he didn't get his dues and how Indrani's behaviour changed over time.
"My experience with 9X is very specific. They are very famous people: Peter Mukerjea and Indrani. I was doing a show for them: Remote Control. It was a weekly show, and it did well for them. Three weeks into the show, Indrani called me and said, 'Let's make this a daily show.' I was like, 'No, I don't think so'. Indrani was like, 'What are you saying JD. If it was any other producer, he wouldn't have let go of this opportunity.' I said, 'It is not about the opportunity, the show's content is not meant for daily show. People will get tired of this and this will come to and end in a few months if we turn it into a daily show,'" JD recalled.
JD didn't give up and convinced her to let the show be weekly only. "She got upset. We did that show for almost a year-about 52 episodes. Later, she requested if I could at least increase the show's duration to one hour. I agreed to it."
When they started shooting for the second season of the show, things were not smooth as earlier.
JD shared, "She stopped paying us after we started the second season. She didn't pay us for over four months, everybody's payments stopped. They stopped answering or meeting us. As a producer, I paid my team on time because they were all my friends who were working - Supriya Pathak, Deven Bhojani, Mansi Parekh, Jai Soni, Sooraj Thapar. I paid them all. By this time, Indrani owed me about Rs 70 lakh. I waited but they never paid."
"One day, I went and showed them the receipts of all the payments. Indrani and Peter were together. Indrani changed her behaviour towards me. She became extremely rude. I lost it. I yelled at her. I said, 'Don't talk to me like this. I don't owe you money. You owe me money. And then you talk to me like this?' Peter tried to console me. But Indrani never cared," the actor continued.
That one incident paved a rift between JD Majethia and Indrani Mukerjea.
"Their accountant spoke to me then they brought a big journalist and started to make settlement talks. I was like, 'What settlement? I have paid all my artistes. I can't do settlement here.' I refused to take settlement amount as I had already paid all my actors. Eventually, they sold the company to a different management and they wanted NOC from me, I didn't give it to them. After a lot of arguments, they eventually paid me Rs 50 lakh, but I still underwent a loss of Rs 30 to 35 lakh," recalled JD Majethia.
Remote Control was a middle-class family drama which ran from 2008 to 2009.