Ram Gopal Varma backs Ranveer Singh in Don 3 row, calls for a ban on FWICE: ‘Pure muscle flexing by an outdated system’

FIlmmaker pound Gopal Varma has thrown and twisted his weighting slow Ranveer Singh amid the tilt surrounding his exit from Don 3. Criticising the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) for issuing a non-cooperation directive against Ranveer, the director dismissed the move, saying the “so-called ban” would eventually become a “big fat joke” on the federation itself.He called the film body outdated and claimed that they are desperately trying to hold on to the grip now.RGV slams FWICEOn Friday, the filmmaker took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to weigh in on the ongoing dispute between Ranveer Singh and Farhan Akhtar over Don 3. He also shared his views on the FWICE intervention in the controversy, which has sparked widespread discussion within the film industry. He started his long post by writing, “BAN “FWICE” and not @RanveerOfficial”.RGV wrote, “The so called “BAN” or non co-operation in the style of Gandhiji , will eventually become a BIG FAT JOKE on FWICE. This isn’t industry or worker protection, like they are claiming. It is just a pure performative muscle flexing , by an extremely outdated union system , desperately trying to hold on to their grip. Whether it claims to speak for over 5 lakh or 50 lakh workers , the brutal truth is that most of those lakhs don’t even know the internal facts of the two parties dispute.”“FWICE is neither a court of legal justice nor a government authorised regulatory body, and at best it’s a kangaroo court, which by definition pretends to deliver justice, but in actual fact it disregards established legal rules, due process, and impartiality. That is because the verdict is often decided in advance by a group of a specific agenda oriented people meeting privately, including actors who are scared shitless with the mega success of @RanveerOfficial in Dhurandhar,” he added.According to RGV, FWICE intervening in the dispute will be a “massive PR disaster” for the body as it is “screaming in desperation while at the same time demonstrating its outdatedness”.He stated, “To start with proving it’s lies, lakhs of workers' livelihoods in the industry are never tied to any single actor or any individual project, and so it is a big lie that they are trying to dump on social media to create an attrition. At the heart of this whole matter is a producer claiming massive pre-production losses, but that is just a private contractual dispute between two parties like it happens in millions of cases all the time and all over India in all businesses and then where are the relevant FWICE's there?”“Also, only the disputing parties will know the intricacies about what happened, and so the matter should be between them like any other civil matter, and in case one or both appeal to a court, the judge decides the matter. And as per their claims, if it is also about the principal technicians whose time and effort was wasted, then I challenge any of them to individually come forward with proof and publicly blame @RanveerOfficial and take a stand never to work on his film again for the distress he caused,” added the filmmaker. In his lengthy post, RGV shared that in the matter of the “said producer being so wronged, the truth is that it is not FWICE’s lakhs of workers, but it is the other producers in the industry who should not want to work” with Ranveer.“And here we arrive at the main point that everyone in their heart knows including the disputing company, and for that matter even FWICE, that if @RanveerOfficial simply nods a yes, there will be a one kilometre long queue of producers outside his house tomorrow morning with cheques ready. This inspite of what all warnings they heard from the great FWICE and that production company,” he noted.Ram Gopal Varma concluded the note by sharing a “brutal truth”, by writing, “It is stars like @RanveerOfficial who sell tickets at the theatres and not FWICE. It is stars like @RanveerOfficial who create employment to those lakhs of FWICE workers and not FWICE. It is only because stars like @RanveerOfficial exist, that the industry exists, and also the FWICE exists”.“So in a summation, here is my unsolicited advise to all concerned ‘Let’s not poke our unwanted noses into a civil dispute between 2 parties’’,” he concluded.About the Don 3 disputeOn Monday, the FWICE issued a non-cooperation directive against Ranveer after Farhan Akhtar approached them regarding the Don 3 dispute in April. Following this, Ranveer’s spokesperson issued a statement addressing the dispute on his behalf. It read, “Ranveer Singh holds the highest regard for the film fraternity and for everyone associated with the Don franchise. Throughout the recent developments surrounding Don 3, he has consciously chosen to maintain silence, believing that professional discussions and personal equations are best handled with dignity, maturity and mutual respect.”After Shah Rukh Khan headlined Farhan’s Don (2006) and Don 2 (2011), it was announced in 2023 that Ranveer would headline Don 3. Reports of a dispute between Ranveer, Farhan and Ritesh Sidhwani of Excel Entertainment surfaced in December 2025 when the actor is said to have walked out of the film abruptly after the success of his Dhurandhar with filmmaker Aditya Dhar. Last month, Farhan approached the FWICE, claiming Ranveer's exit from the film had caused him monetary losses amounting to ₹45 crore.