23 May,2013 08:30 AM IST | | Asira Tarannum
Tales of filmmakers undergoing hardships in B-Town in order to succeed is not new. Looks like producer Dinesh Patel is leaving no stone unturned to get his 2004 film Benaam (re-christened Naam) to finally get a release. We heard that the filmmaker and his family sold off property in order to raise funds for the Ajay Devgn starrer's promotions and release.
Patel and his family are now all set to start on the promotional work from next month onwards and hope to see the film hit the marquee soon after that. The film that was made almost a decade ago was simply lying in the cans. Initially, Priyanka Chopra was to star in the film but she walked out within two days of the shoot. Ill luck plagued the project further, post which the release got stall indefinitely.
A relieved Patel says, "Now my wife and daughter are releasing the film. I had to return the money that I had borrowed from the market. So I raised funds after selling off a part of my land." While his wife Surekha tells us how the family still owes Devgn "quite a lot of money", industry insiders say the amount is upward of R 1.55 crore. Surekha adds, "Ajay has not only given us his dates for promotions but has also forgone all the money we owed him."