Bollywood has been rummaging around for news of a significant rift, amid clashes between actor Ranveer Singh of India and Farhan Akhtar’s production house, Excel Entertainment. The company, co‑owned with Ritesh Sidhwani, is said to have wanted ₹40 crore in compensation from Mr Singh following the alleged departure of the man from Don 3. The argument revolves around massive pre‑production losses and questions of accountability and the dangers of big-budget filmmaking.
Don 3 officially was unveiled in 2023, with Ranveer Singh, a replacement for Shah Rukh Khan as the new Don. It was an exciting announcement that built excitement among fans and insiders. Well after that, Excel Entertainment paid a lot in script development, scheduling, and planning. But Singh reportedly departed the project in late 2025 or early 2026, over creative differences and dissatisfaction with the script.
Singh’s exit came with hefty financial losses to the company reportedly ₹40 crore says Excel Entertainment. These losses include costs of writing, revisions and logistical planning. The production house claims that Singh approved drafts during the development process. His sudden exit will affect negatively on the whole project process.
Ranveer Singh has emphatically declined to make any payment. He, he says, did not receive any advance money from the producers, and thus owes nothing. Singh said the demands were unfair, suggesting that Bollywood is a movie where projects commonly are pushed off, sometimes never made, changed or altered without dividends. For a few years this was the “nature of business” in the film business, he said.
The dispute has ignited controversy within Bollywood quarters. Others believe Excel Entertainment has a valid claim, given how much money has already been invested already. Others support Singh, saying there are often creative differences, and the actors cannot be pushed to continue on work they no longer believe in. The controversy is a fine line between artistic creativity and commercial caution in the field of film.
The standoff between Ranveer Singh and Excel Entertainment over Don 3 is more than that over a contract dispute. It reflects in every way the high stakes of Bollywood‑filmmaking where big announcements create an atmosphere long before the first camera clicks are placed. This goes to the point of what we like to call the point of no return in the industry: The industry usually takes the form of money, relationships, events. The incident is one that will help determine legal and private avenues for resolution, but one that raises alarms surrounding the risks of ambitious projects and makes clear agreements between actors and producers.
