A lot has happened in the dispute between Ranveer Singh and Farhan Akhtar over Don 3. Recently, while the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) revoked its non-cooperation directive against the actor, the Producers Guild of India raised concerns over actors walking out of projects at the last minute. Amid the chaos, new details have emerged about the closed-door mediation sessions that took place between the two parties.
According to Variety, the dispute was discussed across multiple meetings attended by some of the biggest names in the film industry. After several rounds of discussions, Ranveer Singh eventually appeared at later meetings to present his side of the story.
Farhan approached Producers Guild of India, Ranveer skipped meetings
As per the report, Farhan Akhtar approached the Producers Guild of India last year, following which a series of informal mediation sessions were arranged. These discussions reportedly involved around 25 senior industry figures and were conducted outside the guild’s formal dispute-resolution process.
The meetings were attended by names such as Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Karan Johar and Alia Bhatt, among others. However, Ranveer reportedly skipped the initial rounds of discussions.
Ranveer’s fees brought down, film’s budget reduced
Later, both parties attended a key meeting that included Aamir Khan, Anil Kapoor, Rohit Shetty, Rajkumar Hirani, Ashutosh Gowariker, producer Siddharth Roy Kapur and Viacom18 studio head Ajit Andhare, among others.
During the meeting, Ranveer reportedly outlined four major grievances that led to his decision to exit the project. He claimed that he was not fully satisfied with the script and felt it never reached a stage where he was comfortable moving forward. He also reportedly raised concerns about Farhan Akhtar’s availability, alleging that the filmmaker was occupied with other projects and concert commitments.
Ranveer further claimed that his fee had been renegotiated and reduced. In addition, he alleged that the film’s budget had been cut from the originally discussed ₹300–350 crore to around ₹150 crore.
The actor also reportedly denied ever receiving a signing amount for the project.
Farhan refutes claims
Following Ranveer’s claims, Farhan Akhtar and producer Ritesh Sidhwani reportedly presented WhatsApp records that allegedly showed Ranveer responding positively to the script at various stages over the years. The producers also reportedly denied the allegation that Ranveer’s fee had been reduced after terms had already been agreed upon.
‘Would you have exited Don 3 if Dhurandhar wasn’t a success?’
Ritesh Sidhwani, co-owner of Farhan Akhtar’s Excel Entertainment, reportedly confronted Ranveer with a direct question during the discussions — whether he would have exited Don 3 if Dhurandhar had not turned into a blockbuster. According to the report, Ranveer admitted that he would not have left the project under those circumstances.
Ranveer offered ₹10 crore
While Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani are reportedly seeking ₹45 crore from Ranveer Singh for expenses incurred during the project’s pre-production stage, the actor is said to have offered ₹10 crore as an immediate settlement during the meeting. Ranveer also reportedly proposed a 25 percent discount on his fee for any future project produced by Excel Entertainment. However, Farhan and Ritesh allegedly rejected the offer, stating that the proposed discount held no value for them since they had no intention of collaborating with the actor again in the future.
The dispute remains unresolved as of now.