Over two months after The Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) revoked its ‘ban’ on Ranveer Singh for his allegedly unceremonious exit from Farhan Akhtar’s much-anticipated crime thriller Don 3 in the eleventh hour, the matter is now gaining traction with another film body, IMPPA (Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association).

In a major breakthrough, Ranveer Singh’s father Jagjit Singh Bhavnani recently reached out to IMPPA and “expressed their willingness to meet,” as per the film body’s president Abhay Sinha.

“We also received his advocate’s email stating that they would participate in the meeting whenever it was scheduled,” added Sinha.

The positive response from Ranveer Singh’s team comes at an interesting time, since his next big-budget film went on floors in Mumbai today. Ranveer will be next seen in Jai Mehta’s zombie apocalypse thriller Pralay, which is being co-produced by Jai’s father Hansal Mehta’s True Story Films, Ananaya Birla’s Birla Studios, and Ranveer’s new production house Maa Kasam Films, marking his debut as a producer. Pralay also features Lokah: Chapter 1 star Kalyani Priyadarshan in a key role.

What’s the Don 3 row all about?

Back in August 2023, Excel Entertainment officially announced Don 3, with Ranveer Singh filling in the shoes of the titular character, which was essayed by Shah Rukh Khan in the first two parts, released back in 2006 and 2011 respectively. The announcement was made through a promo, which also unveiled Ranveer’s Don look.

However, days after Ranveer’s spy thriller Dhurandhar, directed by Aditya Dhar, opened big at the worldwide box office, Ranveer informed Excel Entertainment his intention to exit Don 3 without giving any reason. That development came just three weeks before a crew of over 200 were booked to fly to a foreign location for the first shooting schedule.

Excel Entertainment then sought intervention from the FWICE. After listening to their side of the story, they invited Ranveer to tell his side as well. However, upon his lack of cooperation, the film body issued the non-cooperation directive — only to revoke it eight days later. It claimed that other film bodies urged them to do so, given Ranveer headlining a film would generate employment for thousands of workers.

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A month after FWICE’s decision, Farhan Akhtar and his producing partner Ritesh Sidhwani’s banner Excel Entertainment had approached IMPPA. Like they did with the FWICE, Excel Entertainment presented its Don 3 contract with Ranveer Singh and also showed them the film’s promo they shot with Ranveer three years ago. They also showed a message from the actor, expressing his excitement to start the film.

Ranveer has maintained silence on the whole issue right from the start. Even after the FWICE issued the directive, his team put out a statement claiming he’d continue to stick to his stand of not explaining his stance and would rather concentrate on his work.