Retired cop/actor among those suing Bollywood film producers

Edwin "Bo" Diaz was at the ready when film producers called him up at midnight, asking him to work later that Thanksgiving Eve as an extra.

Diaz, a retired Philadelphia police officer and a 1993 George Fencl Award winner, wound up playing a New York City cop that day on the Philadelphia set and "arresting" a terrorist, he recalled yesterday. (A "terrorist" sets off a bomb in a New York subway, which was actually a SEPTA subway.)

At the time, he thought "Drop it!" and "Stop!" and his other key lines would mean more money in his pocket and a stronger acting resume, he said.

But the movie's producers turned on Diaz and hundreds of other actors, vendors and crew members, leaving them unpaid for their work on the movie during its last days of filming in December.

Now the Bollywood production of "Jihaad" has been hit with its second lawsuit in seven days. Center City lawyer Michael H. Rosenthal, representing 60 crew members and actors including Diaz, filed the suit Friday. It accuses the film's producers of breach of contract, failure to pay wages and overtime violations.

"I think it's wrong what they did," said Diaz, 55.

The suit seeks $50,000 in back pay as well as attorney fees and additional penalties from Dharma Productions, of Mumbai, India, and Swish Films, of Melbourne, Australia. Dharma hired Swish to supervise the fall shoot and pay vendors, actors and crew members.

On May 8, lawyers representing a group of vendors filed a lawsuit against Swish and Dharma, also for breach of contract. They also filed an injunction to shut down the "Jihaad" production in New York City and keep the actual film in the United States while the legal process moved ahead.

Common Pleas Judge Arnold L. New denied the injunction last week.

Lawyer Justin Wineburgh, who filed the first suit, said that he'll be seeking "an injunction if and when there is ever an attempt to release this film," in an amended complaint. *