Exclusive: America's Got Talent winners complain about not receiving prize money

The group during a performance at AGT

The hoofers of Mira Road-based dance group ‘V Unbeatable', which made India proud after they won second season of ‘America's Got Talent: The Champions' (AGT) in February 2020, approached the Navghar police against group founder and choreographer Om Prakash Chauhan over non-distribution of the prize money amounting to $25,000.

Meanwhile, Chauhan said that the group of dancers had been instigated by the manager Mahesh More, who he sacked recently. "The entire issue has been messed up by the manager Mahesh More, who has been instigating my dancers to go against me to file a police complaint and approach media to settle a score with me," Chauhan told mid-day.

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In the complaint, a dancer Mohammad Areef alleged that whenever the group of 26 dancers approached Chauhan to seek their share of the prize money they collectively bagged after the show in the US, he delayed the process. "Now he is threatening to file a complaint against us whenever we seek our share of the prize money," Areef told mid-day.

When contacted, More said that the group of 26 dancers were handpicked from slum pockets of Mira Road, Bhayandar, Naigaon, Vasai, Nalasopara and Virar.

"These young boys, mostly teenagers, spent many years to shine the group ‘V Unbeatable' and made India proud on an international platform by winning a reality show AGT in February 2020," he said.

"The prize money should have been equally distributed among the participants, most of whom are very poor and still reside in slums. But Chauhan did not give a single penny to these young boys to date. Chauhan had told these dancers that he would invest the prize money by making a studio where they would keep on doing rehearsals," More added.

"However, at the time of making the studio, Chauhan took Rs 25,000 from each dancer. Moreover, the group conducted more than 250 shows in India and abroad, and won a lot of prize money. But a huge chunk of this was eaten by Chauhan, and these hardworking and ambitious professional dancers were given peanuts," More added.

The manager further told mid-day, "Chauhan would always encourage the boys to work hard for ‘V Unbeatable' so that their living standard can be improved and they can start living in flats. The boys really worked hard for the group. But he never paid them what they really deserved and himself amassed huge wealth by conducting massive domestic as well as international shows. Now, he has bought a flat in Mira Road worth Rs 80 lakh and has booked another property in Virar whose cost could be around Rs 70 lakh," More alleged.

Meanwhile, the complainant, Areef told mid-day that he learnt to dance from YouTube and started to perform with a group of handpicked boys on streets where the audience would give them a round of applause. "This encouraged me to rope in more young boys and train them to entertain people on the street by showcasing our exhilarating stunts," said Areef, who claims that nearly 26 aggrieved dancers are supporting his cause.

"Around 13 years ago, I bumped into Chauhan, who joined our group. At that time he would earn hardly Rs 150 per day as he worked in an eyewear factory in Bhayandar," Areef recalled.

"Today, when the group got famous, he got the name of the group ‘V Unbeatable' registered in his own name. He did not inform anyone that he became the proprietor of the dance group. Since all the dancers belong to slum pockets, they would not understand the tricky games played by Chauhan, who has now cheated them," Areef told mid-day.

"He has controlled the access of all the social media handles of ‘V Unbeatable', for which we devoted over a decade to shape it well. Now, Chauhan has discarded all the original dancers in the group and has been working with another dance group based in Powai," Areef said.

According to Areef, they have not received a single penny from the prize money won at AGT. "Despite working hard for so many years, the living conditions of all the dancers are still the same, whereas Chauhan has been adding expensive properties to his name. This reveals everything," Areef said.

Another dancer, Anush Harijan, who lives in a slum in Bhayandar, said, "I was devoted to the group for the last 14 years. OP-sir (Chauhan) played with our emotions. I worked really hard for the group but he did not give us the prize money we won."

"Whenever I went to ask for my share, OP sir would shout at me and the dissenting group members were permanently removed by him. This instilled fear among us and deterred us from approaching him to ask for our share of the prize money. We conducted various shows but he would give us peanuts," he added.

According to Harijan, Chauhan would visit his home and convince his parents to send him to perform with the dance group. "He had promised my parents that my future would be secured and living conditions would improve. But nothing happened. Instead, he kept on buying land in his village and properties in Mira Road and Virar, but did not give us our share," he alleged.

Another dancer, Akash Chauhan said, "No one has instigated us to go against Chauhan-sir. We all knew since the beginning that he had been eating a major share of our earnings as he was never transparent with us in terms of client deals. He would only give us peanuts."

"All the dancers were emotionally attached to the group. We injured ourselves during practice and rehearsals but never thought we would have to face this day. Chauhan-sir minted money out of our hard work, but never bothered to give us our dues," Akash added.

Responding to the allegations, Chauhan said, "Half of the prize money was given to the choreographer who assisted us in training for AGT in 2019; we also had to give entertainment tax. The rest of the money was invested in making the studio for the group. The studio is spread across 800 sq ft for which I pay rent of Rs 58,000 per month. I never asked for the rent of the studio during the lockdown period when everything was shut."

"Above all, I have not removed anyone from the group. And regarding the Powai-based dance group, I was always in touch with them and would assign them projects whenever we had excess orders for shows," he added.

When contacted, an officer from Navghar police, said, "We received a complaint and we have called the Chauhan for his version. He has yet to turn up at the police station. I will look into this complaint as the matter seems to be serious. The veracity of allegations is being verified, but we will surely register an FIR if the allegations are found to be true."