Dubai: Producer Gaurang Doshi who had once again run into troubles with his debut OTT venture says all is well now. His twin web series named ‘7th Sense’ and ‘Line of Fire’ were announced in June this year. The shows headlined by stars like R Madhavan, Ronit Roy, Prateik Babbar, Tanuj Virwani, Elli AvrRam, Sana Saeed and Vijay Raaz among others is in the news for all the wrong reasons. There were reports that the shows had been indefinitely stalled due to non-payment of dues.

A source from the show’s unit who did not wish to be named told the media that majority of the 100-strong cast and crew has now returned to India from Dubai where the filming had already started.

Gaurang Doshi had announced his dream project in an elaborate press conference on 9th September at Palazzo Versace, a five star hotel in Dubai’s Al Jaddaf Waterfront. The cast and crew had been put up at the hotel where they even completed a 14-day quarantine (mandatory at the time). But the source reveals that they had to return home at their own cost. Earlier as well, there had been controversies surrounding the unceremonious exit of actors like Ameesha Patel, Ronit Roy and Chunky Panday from the shows.

Both the shows had been mounted on a grand scale as Doshi had joined hands with an Emirati businessman His Excellency Suhail Mohd. Al Zarooni. The source claims that within a week of the shoot, creative differences crept up between Doshi and Zarooni that led to a fallout between the two. Eventually, Doshi abandoned them in Dubai to foot their own bills and fled to Mumbai, according to the source.

‘All is well’

However, denying all the accusations, Gaurang Doshi, who is currently in Dubai said that nothing of the sorts happened. Doshi said that he is all set to resume shooting in February 2021. Clarifying further, Doshi said, “Ten days of shooting was already complete when quite a few unit members including some character artists tested positive for COVID-19 in Dubai and we had to halt the shoot.” He further added that while some of the unit members like the make-up team and a couple of Assistant Directors (ADs) were fired due to incompetence, rest of the cast and crew are still onboard.

Doshi stressed that many actors like Rohit Roy and Tanuj Virwani left for Mumbai as they had allotted their dates for other projects, but they are returning soon. Doshi even sent this newspaper some WhatsApp voice notes from Roy, Virwani and R Madhavan where they cleared his name of any wrongdoing so far.  “I must have spent close to 22 lakh rupees just in COVID tests so far and everyone has been paid including the hotels in Dubai,” said Doshi. He even added that he has found a new investor, who is willing to fund both the shows and that there is no bad blood between Zarooni and him.