U V News Media and Communications Ltd, the makers of the upcoming film 3 Bachelors, has put up a petition in the Bombay High Court in its intention to slap a legal notice on Sharman Joshi who plays lead in its film. The producers are miffed with Sharman calling them ‘opportunists’. The entire ruckus unfolded when Sharman claimed that the makers are releasing 3 Bachelors, after nine to ten years of its completion, to cash in on the box office success of his newly released flick, Ferrari Ki Sawaari. Explains Manoj Rastogi, a partner of U V News Media and Communications Ltd., “How does he say that the film was in the cans for nine years? He must have been signed for the film nine years ago by the original producers. They handed over the project to us. Let me clear that we finished the sound and DI (Digital Intermediate) late last year and were to release the film early this year.” He continues, “Unfortunately, we could not, because the IPL came around. Time went by and we thought it was the right time to release 3 Bachelors on 6 July. Till then everything was okay. Neither, Sharman nor we had any issues as such.” Furthermore, Manoj avers that they never meant to capitalize on the success of Ferrari Ki Sawaari to release 3 Bachelors. “Suppose if the film (Ferrari) had to fail, wouldn’t we have released our film. Being producers of the movie, we have all the rights to market, promote and recover our investment. On this ground, we asked Sharman to promote the flick. This is the time from when he started giving various kinds of excuses. We were even okay with him not participating in the promotional exercise. But what bogged us was this story terming us as sheer opportunists in a daily. This angered us beyond limit.” Hence, the legal notice. “We have demanded a compensation of Re 1, as a token, for defamation from Sharman. It’s not about money but respect. We have also sought an assurance from the actor that he would co-operate with us in the promotions of the film.” The petition was filed on last Friday (29 June 2012) and admitted by the Court on Saturday. Sharman has already been served a legal notice. What are the producers expecting? “We only want an apology from Sharman for using such a bad word. Let's see. We have full faith in our judiciary. Hoping for something good,” ends Rastogi.