| Show me the money: Gauri Pradhan |
Gauri claims that the production house is delaying her long-overdue payment, and has caused her trauma by sending her a letter blaming her for inconvenience caused to them during shoots.
"I am terribly hurt over the way UTV has been dealing with my money. Actually, more than the financial loss I am facing, it's their total lack of apathy and understanding towards an artiste which has put me off," says the actress.
The problem started when Pradhan completed her schedule for Special Squad, and was awaiting payment for it. "They are already late in making payments, and are now threatening to cut my payment for one complete day. I will definitely not accept this; I know what conditions I have worked in," says Gauri.
Warned about UTV
Along with the haywire schedules and changing creative directors, and, Gauri says there was constant bargaining from the production house over her payment.
"A lot of people warned me about UTV before I took on the show," she recounts. "They told me to be careful about the money, as they always end up creating an issue over it. But why should I compromise, when I have been honest and sincere?"
Gauri claims that a couple of months ago, she was terribly unwell and on bed rest. "I was physically unable to work, and even refrained from shooting for Kyunki. I told UTV about my illness and requested them to adjust the dates. In spite of this, they are saying I was unprofessional and created problems for them during the climax."
Set on fire
Recalling an accident that happened on the sets, Gauri says, "There was a huge fire on the Special Squad sets, and I was stuck inside. None of the unit members even bothered to come and make sure I was safe. How can one compromise on safety and have such a lackadaisical attitude baffles me!"
Gauri stresses that she wants to convey the message loud and clear to upcoming actors. "I am an established face, so I can put my foot down, but what about those hundreds of actors who come into the industry each day? I want to warn them against getting involved in a similar situation."
Is the actress considering legal action against UTV? "I am leaving for Hong Kong to spend some with Hiten (Tejwani, her husband); I will decide what to do when I return." When contacted, UTV refused to comment on the matter
Excerpts from UTV's letter to Gauri
UTV sent a letter to Gauri, stating their inability to make a complete payment of her fees due to the problems created by her.
Extracts:
"You were initially only able to give us 1 day (Oct 5) but since you were ill we adjusted our schedule accordingly and took Oct 6 from you. You further changed the same to Oct 11. Due to same, we faced major problems with dates of other artists and also the entire schedule went haywire.
We even changed the script much against the wish of the channel to accommodate you. This also hampered the look of the show for the last two crucial episodes.
Even after adjusting the dates according to your convenience you didn't give us a full shooting day and gave us only one shift in which it was not possible to complete your work as you play a very important character and especially the night scenes which were very crucial for those episodes as it was the climax episode and the show was coming to an end."
Anupamaa
