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

While the Producers Guild of India has condemned Ranveer’s last-minute backing out of Don 3, which caused harm to the production house Excel Entertainment, the IMPAA has requested the non-cooperation directive to be revoked in the larger interest of the film industry.

“Considering their appeal and the larger interest of the film industry, we’re immediately revoking the directive against Ranveer Singh,” added Pandit. He added that he’s appealed to Ranveer, Excel Entertainment, and all film bodies to sit together and resolve the issue amicably so that neither party feels shortchanged.

“We’ve been saying exactly what the Producers Guild has said now. Sitting with all film bodies together to resolve the issue is exactly what we wanted in the first place. We appeal to Ranveer Singh as well to come forward and resolve this amicably. We hope he becomes even a bigger and bigger star,” said Pandit. Less than one hour before FWICE’s press conference, the Producers Guild also requested both the parties to solve the issue amicably.

Also Read:Producers Guild backs Farhan Akhtar, warns against last-minute exits

The FWICE confirmed they’ve gotten legal notices from both Ranveer Singh and veteran producer TP Aggarwal, which their legal team will respond to accordingly. “We’ve not caved under any pressure. We’re a 70-year-old organisation and have received countless legal notices. We just want all parties to expedite the issue and resolve it amicably,” FWICE President BN Tiwari told SCREEN. “We expected Ranveer to show up after we issue the directive. But his team has misguided him,” he added.

CINTAA general secretary and popular television actor Upasana Singh, while addressing the media, said the actors body also requested the FWICE to revoke the directive against Ranveer. “It’s our responsibility to look after artists’ interests. The film industry is a family. We have a lot of domestic quarrels at our home also, but that doesn’t mean we should escalate it every time. It should not happen that we’re going to court,” said Upasana.

“Since Ranveer is a member, we’ll try to sort out the issues concerning him and the producers. Ranveer has revived the film industry with Dhurandhar and made history. We need actors like these. My son has also watched it five times. An actor’s career facilitates careers of so many technicians and spotboys,” she added.

Ranveer Singh’s exit from Don 3

In August 2023, Farhan Akhtar announced Don 3, the third instalment in his popular crime thriller franchise. While Shah Rukh Khan played the titular character in the first two parts, Ranveer Singh was announced as the new Don in the threequel. A promo featuring the actor was also unveiled, and Ranveer even shared it on social media, expressing his excitement to carry the franchise forward.

Ranveer’s contract with Excel Entertainment wasn’t finalized till over a year after the announcement. Ranveer’s verbal agreement with the production house initially operated solely on trust, given his successful collaboration with the Akhtars in the past, with Zoya Akhtar’s 2015 family drama Dil Dhadakne Do and 2019 coming-of-age musical Gully Boy.

While the script rewrites and pre-production on the film continued in spurts over the next couple of years, the production was finally going to commence only in January this year. As Ranveer was busy filming Aditya Dhar’s spy thriller franchise Dhurandhar, Farhan was on his music tour Farhan Live and returning to acting with Razneesh Ghai’s military action drama 21 Bahadur.

It was only after the film’s theatrical release on November 24, 2025 that Farhan got back to Don 3, finalizing the pre-production in tandem with Ranveer. As per sources, Ranveer also participated in action training and costume trials, paid for by Excel Entertainment. Within a week of the release of Dhurandhar on December 5, 2025, Ranveer even attended a couple of script reading sessions with Farhan.

However, a day after the look test got cancelled, Ranveer told Farhan over phone that he wants to exit Don 3. This happened within 15 days of Dhurandhar’s release, which went on to amass over Rs 1300 crore at the worldwide box office. Sources claimed this call came after over 200 crew members were booked to travel to an overseas location for the commencement of the first shooting schedule in January 2026.

Sources add that the reasons behind Ranveer’s sudden, unceremonious exit range from budget and salary cuts to his lack of satisfaction with the final script and Farhan’s availability over the past couple of years to make it better. As per Variety, Ranveer claimed the budget of Don 3 was reportedly slashed by half from over Rs 300 crore to approximately Rs 150 crore. Ranveer wasn’t paid the signing amount either.

Excel Entertainment files complaint with film body

After a lack of favourable and prompt responses from Ranveer’s team, Excel Entertainment filed an official complaint with the Producers Guild of India. That led to multiple rounds of mediations, involving stalwarts of the Hindi film industry, including Aamir Khan and former Producers Guild of India President Siddharth Roy Kapur among others. Ranveer attended barely a few of these meetings, but refused to comply Excel Entertainment’s demand of Rs 45 crore as damages, the amount spent on pre-production of Don 3. Ranveer reportedly offered to pay Rs 10 crore and a 25% discount on the next film they do together, which Excel reportedly refused. The mediation thus eventually resulted in a standoff.

Excel Entertainment then escalated the matter to the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE), which consists of over 4 lakh workers and over 30 craft organizations. After hearing Excel Entertainment’s side of the story and studying all the supporting documents furnished by the production house, the FWICE sent an invite to Ranveer to hear out his side of the story. But the actor didn’t respond despite three periodical reminders every 10 days.

It was only after FWICE announced a press conference a couple of weeks ago that Ranveer’s representative reached out to them, claiming that the film body doesn’t have jurisdiction over the matter, which is between a production house and an actor. However, last week, the FWICE issued a non-cooperation directive against the actor, which will be in effect until he shows up personally to resolve the ongoing issue.

The non-cooperation directive virtually discourages the 5 lakh plus members of the FWICE to collaborate with Ranveer in any professional capacity, thus potentially hampering his current work commitments and future work opportunities. While Ranveer’s team issued a statement, claiming he’ll maintain a dignified silence over the matter like he has since the beginning, the actor sent a legal notice to the film body on Tuesday, a week after the FWICE’s ‘ban’.

Also Read — Why Ranveer Singh exited Farhan Akhtar’s Don 3: Script disputes, slashed budget, Dhurandhar

Legal implications

Sanjay Vasudevan, a media and entertainment lawyer, told SCREEN that the FWICE, being a trade union and not a statutory body, doesn’t have any legal rights to “ban or boycott” Ranveer, compel him to engage in discussions, or even prohibit any of its members to honour their non-cooperation directive. He also added that the actor has “legal remedies” against the film body to seek his right to employment under Section 3(3)(b) of the Competition Act, Article 19(1)(g) of the Indian Constitution, and Section 27, Contract Act.