Complaint filed against Digangana Suryavanshi for trying to ‘extort money’ from show producers | Web Series ullu-web-prime.com

The stir around Zeenat Aman’s OTT debut series Show Stopper refuses to die down. Now, we have heard that the show makers have taken a legal action against actor Digangana Suryavanshi by filing a complaint against her for defrauding the team. (Also read: Web series Showstopper’s stylist Krishan Parmar cries foul against non-payment of dues; producer-director defends)

This comes just days after there were rumours around the show facing financial crunch.

Legal action

We have learnt that MH Films, the production house behind the show, has filed a police complaint against Digangana, alleging cheating and criminal breach of trust under IPC Section 420 and Section 406.

According to the complaint, Digangana falsely claimed to secure actor Akshay Kumar and his company as presenters for the project.

The complaint reads, “She said she has personal relationships with stars such as Akshay Kumar, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan, and she would be in a position to rope in such a popular actor as a presenter”. The complaint claims that she took money on the pretext of getting Akshay on board.

In addition to that, MH Films has also issued a defamation notice to actor Rakesh Bedi and Digangana’s fashion designer Krishan Parmar.

They have been accused of making false public statements about the show maker’s unwillingness to collaborate, which allegedly damaged the project’s reputation. As per the complaint, they also “misled the media by stating that the project was shelved and payments were withheld”.

Advocate Falguni Brahmbhatt, representing MH Films and Director Manish Harishankar, confirmed the developments to us.

Falguni also noted that Digangana “allegedly attempted to extort a significant amount of money in cash, threatening serious consequences for Harishankar if her demands were not met”.

“This threat has been reported to the police, who have been requested to take action based on the complaint,” she stated.

About the row

Earlier this month, there were reports indicating that Zeenat’s OTT debut project has hit a roadblock and paused because of financial issues, with some reports claiming that investors have not got their payment back.

Some insiders claimed that the actors and the support staff are yet to receive their payments. “Only a percentage of their amount was paid by the producer. Besides the actors, many people from the crew have complained about this,” a source told Hindustan Times earlier.

Krishan Parmar, the official stylist, also shared, “I was roped in for Digangana’s styling with a per day assured sum. Shweta’s personal stylist also hasn’t been paid; I talked to him but he has given up. My billable amount was ₹125K but only ₹25K was paid. Whenever I approach the line producer Narendra Jani for the payments, he tells me that they’ve pitched the series to platforms and once it’s sold, everyone’s payments would be cleared. But I can’t see that happening ever”.

At that time, Manish released a statement to dismiss all the speculation, saying they are totally baseless. “I just want to state on record that all the speculations and rumours made about the payments are not true. In fact, we have hundred percent cleared the lead actors’ payments and the production’s payments are also clear by 90-95 percent,” Manish said.

“We have just finished dubbing with all the actors and the post-production is also going on in full swing currently. We will make the date of announcement,” he added.

About the show

The series, shot across Bhopal, Indore and Mumbai, is based on the subject of bra fittings and how almost 80 percent of women in the world end up wearing the wrong sized bra for the entire duration of their life, which leads to serious health concerns. The show also stars Zarina Wahab, Shweta Tiwari and Sourabh Raaj Jain.