Veteran actress
Zeenat Aman
, who has been enjoying a lot of fame on social media platforms thanks to her posts, is all set to make her OTT debut with a show called
Showstopper
. The show was in the news recently when it was reported that it has been stalled due to paucity of funds, but director
Manish Harishankar
came on record to debunk the news and said the show is in post-production phase and has cleared the lead cast’s payment and about 90-95 % of production crew’s payments.
Now the show has got involved in another controversy. The makers have filed a police complaint against
actress Digangana Suryavanshi
, alleging cheating and criminal breach of trust under IPC Section 420 and Section 406. The complaint asserts that Suryavanshi falsely claimed to secure
Akshay Kumar
and his company as presenters for the project.
In the police complaint, Manish Harishankar mentions that Digangana first asked to get an MOU done which would give legitimacy to strike a conversation with
Akshay
Kumar to get him on board as the presenter of the show. The deal would take place in exchange of Rs 6 crore to the actor and Rs 75 lakhs to her
This apart, it would also include a Mercedes G class for her and Rs 25 lakh to Akshay’s secretary
Vedant Bali
and Rs 1 crore to choreographer
Ganesh Acharya
.
The complaint also reveals that the actress allegedly told Manish Harishankar that she has had a word with the superstar and two members from his office would like to see the show. Post that two individuals did come to his office and he was informed that Akshay would like to watch the show. Akshay was shooting in Ajmer at that time, so he made all the arrangements to send Digangana along with his editor to Ajmer who had all the episodes on an Ipad. The editor briefly met Akshay Kumar in Ajmer but Diganaga took the footage from him and went solo to show it to the superstar. She has allegedly till date not returned the Ipad and has claimed that Akshay has asked for full and final payment of Rs 6 crore in advance, if Manish Harishankar would like to use his name as the presenter.
On being asked to meet Akshay or atleast have a conversation with him over the phone, the actress would allegedly make excuses and not organize the meeting, and that is when Manish decided to file a complaint against her.
Furthermore, MH Films has issued a defamation notice to actor
Rakesh Bedi
and actress
Digangana Suryavanshi’s fashion designer Krishan Parmar. They are accused of making false public statements about the OTT platform’s unwillingness to collaborate, which allegedly damaged the project’s reputation. They also reportedly misled the media by stating that the project was shelved and payments were withheld.
Advocate Falguni Brahmbhatt, representing MH Films and Director Manish Harishankar, has confirmed these developments. She also noted that actress Digangana Suryavanshi 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.
We tried reaching out to Digangana over text but we haven’t recieved an answer yet.
