‘Ranveer Singh’s team misguided him by sending us a legal notice’: Cine body’s president

Tiwari maintained that the film body hasn’t caved under any pressure, particularly of the legal notice as their legal team will respond to Ranveer’s notice accordingly. “Our organization is 70 years old. We’ve seen countless legal notices being sent to us. We know how to handle them. This is not about that. This is about catering to the larger interest of the film industry,” claimed Tiwari.

‘We have jurisdiction’

Last week, after announcing the non-cooperation directive against Ranveer, Tiwari said Ranveer may be a superstar, but “no superstar is above the law”. He said so after the actor didn’t respond to the film body despite being sent three periodical reminders every 10 days. After his representative wrote to the FWICE, claiming it doesn’t have jurisdiction over his ongoing conflict with Excel Entertainment over his Don 3 exit, Tiwari’s associate and FWICE Chief Advisor Ashoke Pandit hit back, “We know our jurisdiction. Don’t tell us that we don’t have jurisdiction. We’re a trade union.”

On Wednesday, Tiwari explained to SCREEN that the FWICE enjoys jurisdiction over Ranveer even though he’s not a member because he’s a part of another affiliated film body, Cine and TV Artists Association (CINTAA). However, Sanjay Vasudevan, a media and entertainment lawyer pointed out to SCREEN last week that the FWICE doesn’t hold any legal jurisdiction over Ranveer or any third party, given it’s not a statutory body. “The ‘no one is above the law’ framing is rhetorical, not factual,” he reasoned. However, he added that it’s always “prudent” to interact with trade unions like the FWICE otherwise they tend to have a “reactionary” approach towards the workers.

Then why did FWICE revoke the ban?

The FWICE decided to revoke the non-cooperation directive against Ranveer after requests from affiliated film bodies like CINTAA and IMPPA (Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association), which urged the FWICE to not hamper the employment and livelihood of thousands of workers, like technicians and spotboys, who would benefit from Ranveer’s employment. They also urged the film body to not let the matter go to court and instead engage in constructive dialogue.

“This is what we always wanted. We’re very grateful to CINTAA, IMPPA, and the Producers Guild of India for their support. Now, we appeal all film bodies to sit together and reach a resolution amicably. We also appeal to Ranveer Singh to come and sit with all of us. He’s a superstar of this country, and we want him to do even better. But we also don’t want producers to suffer losses because of actors walking out of their films at the last minute,” argued Tiwari.

The FWICE’s non-cooperation directive against Ranveer came while acting on a complaint by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s production house Excel Entertainment, which claimed that Ranveer suddenly and unceremoniously walked out of their film Don 3 this past December, just three weeks before the commencement of shooting at an overseas location. They’ve presented their entire side of the story to the FWICE, along with furnishing supporting documents, and sought Rs 45 crore in damages from Ranveer to compensate for the pre-production expenses incurred in his full knowledge.

Also Read — Film body revokes ‘ban’ on Ranveer Singh over Don 3 exit: ‘Not related to his legal notice’

While Ranveer has not communicated his side of the story officially so far, sources tell SCREEN that the reasons behind his exit range from lack of satisfaction with the final script, lack of unavailability at Farhan’s end leading up to the scheduled shooting dates, and slashing of the budget by half, including his fees. Timing is key too, since Ranveer walked out of Don 3 days after his period spy thriller, Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar, released in cinemas on December 5, 2025 and eventually amassed over Rs 1300 crore at the worldwide box office.