Malayalam child actor Gourav Menon aka Jugru has raised allegations against the director and producer of his movie Kolumittayi.
During a press conference at Ernakulam Press Club on Friday, June 9, the national award winner claimed that the duo, Arun Viswon and Abhijeet Ashokan, has cheated him by not paying any remuneration for playing the lead role in the 2016 movie that even won Kerala State Film Award for Best Children's Movie.
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According to Gourav, the initial agreement was to pay his salary after the movie's theatrical release. Later, the filmmakers said that they will pay after getting satellite rights but failed to keep the promise even after months. "No other child should face a situation like this. Initially, they told me they would pay my remuneration after the movie's release, then they said they will pay after the movie gets the satellite rights. Though I have given a police complaint, no action has been taken so far," Gourav said as he broke down before the reporters.
The child artiste has also alleged that he couldn't be part of some projects as he believes that the director and producer of Kolumittayi were spreading rumours about him.
However, director Arun has denied the allegations made by Gourav and said that the child actor agreed to be part of Kolumittayi without any payment. "Other artistes too acted in the movie without remuneration. Though we wanted to pay them, it didn't happen as we were running out of money. But, we have already paid almost Rs 75,000 to Gourav for travel and other expenses," the filmmaker told Manoramaonline.
Kolumittayi also stars Amar Akbar Anthony-fame Meenakshy, Aakash Santhosh, Sidharth, Naif, Saiju Kurup, Krishna Praba, Anjali Aneesh Upasana, Kalabhavan Prajodh and Bineesh Bastin in significant roles.
Meanwhile, Gourav bagged the prestigious National Award for his remarkable performance in the Malayalam movie Ben, released in 2016. He will be next seen in the movie, Chakkara Mavin Kombathu, which has been scheduled to hit the screens in July.
