Fate of many films hangs in balance over Ponty's death

Ever since Ponty Chadha's sensational murder, the industry has been abuzz over rumours surrounding his multi-crore fortune. Not only has his death left a huge impact on the liquor business that he owned, it has also cast a shadow over the several films that he was slated to finance.

A Delhi-based distributor on conditions of anonymity says, "Ponty was a great fan of films and of late he has been one of the leading distributors in the Hindi film industry. Now that he is no more, the fate of many films is unknown." In the past, Ponty had picked up the rights of many films including Ready, Jism 2 and Teri Meri Kahaani.

A source close to the late businessman says, "Ponty was under contract to produce two films with Pooja Bhatt and Dino Morea - the third installment of the Jism series and Cabaret that was announced 10 years ago with Mallika Sherawat." In fact Ponty had also agreed on financing Abahy Deol's first film as producer to be directed by Navdeep Singh."

Another industry source states, "Ponty also had his hands full with films to distribute. He had picked up the rights for Preity Zinta's first production for his territory. He had also agreed on picking up rights for Zilla Ghazaibad starring Sanjay Dutt and Vivek Oberoi. He also has David Dhawan's next film, which is the remake of Chashme Buddoor starring Ali Zafar. He had also bought the rights for Ab Tak Chhappan 2 for Rs 10 crore."

Sources say that Ponty was also in talks with Ashtavinayak for a Rs 80 cr deal, with the Bhatts for a three-film deal and also with T-Series for a Saif Ali Khan film.u00a0