Producer-Actress at war:

By Bollywood Hungama -

December 5, 2001 - 12:00 AM IST

Actress Sakshi Shivananda, who is already a big name in South, has been shown the door from two Hindi projects, screamed a trade weekly last week. The report stated that the actress was thrown out of YEH KAISI MOHABBAT and Suresh Wadkar's first film as producer, TANMAN.COM, due to her unprofessional attitude. According to the report, Sakshi backed out at the last minute from an outdoor schedule of YEH KAISI MOHABBAT to Malaysia, when the producer, Ashok Kotwani, had made all arrangements for the shooting. Since Sakshi was in Chennai, her secretary, Deepak Gandhi, spoke on her behalf: "First of all, let me clarify that it is only a rumour that Sakshi is out of Suresh Wadkar's film. Had Suresh-ji taken such a decision, he would've informed the same in writing, which is not the case. "As for YEH KAISI MOHABBAT, it is true that she is not doing the film. But the allegations made against her are wrong. According to what we were told, she was supposed to shoot in Malaysia from April 11 to 27. We agreed on that, but when I went to collect the tickets in the office prior to the shooting, I was given evasive answers by the production assistants. Later, we realised that the producer had already left for Malaysia on April 1. "We were subsequently informed that they had dismissed Sakshi from the film. According to the rules, a producer replacing one artiste with another has to do so with the prior consent of the artistes' association. But in this case, the producer did not do any such thing. "In any case, we have no regrets about not doing the film, especially considering the fact that the girl who has replaced her in the film is the 'Kamasutra' model, Viveka Babaji. If this is their choice, it is good that we are not associated with the film." However, Ashok Kotwani, the producer of YEH KAISI MOHABBAT, has a different story to narrate. Says he, "The real reason why Sakshi backed out of the schedule was because she had committed the same dates to another producer. Imagine our entire unit reaching Malaysia and twiddling the thumbs, since the heroine backs out of her commitment. "I spoke to her secretary and then to her mother subsequently. Earlier, they came up with the excuse that Sakshi's outfits were missing. Then they said they wanted an instalment before she flew to Malaysia. Incidentally, we had taken her passport for visa purpose and her mother told our production hand in Mumbai, while we were in Malaysia, to return Sakshi's passport immediately, or else she would report the matter to the police. "I was left with no alternative but to tell her mother that if Sakshi does not report for the shoot, we'll have to replace her with another heroine. When Sharad Kapoor landed in Malaysia, even he tried to speak to her, but she told him clearly that her dates had been committed elsewhere. "It was Deepak Tijori's talent portal that helped us get Viveka Babaji as the replacement. We had planned to complete 80 per cent of the film at the end of the Malaysia schedule, but due to Sakshi's attitude, we've just completed 70 per cent of the film. We will have to re-shoot portions that had been shot with Sakshi earlier." The producer has also issued a written statement to the press.