ANUJ GOT BEATEN UP:ARTICLE

Anuj, who is still in Delhi with his grandmother, says, "My sister told me that my grandmother has been hospitalised at the Kalra hospital here. I wanted to go there immediately and the day I was leaving, these advertising agency people came to the sets."

Explaining the incident, he says, "I do not even know how the security guards allowed them in. There were 11-12 of them. I have done two advertisements. One was for Maruti and the other was for a Honda bike. The people who came to the sets were from the agency that made the Honda ad. The agency came to know that I did an ad for a rival brand and they were facing a loss. I told them before that it was not my fault but my coordinator's as he was aware of it. However, they wanted me to write an apology which I refused. So they came to my sets with goons and started to hit me."

Anuj immediately called his friend and told him to call the police but to no avail. He adds, "The most surprising thing was that cops were outside the studio but this time, the security guards did not allow them to come inside! I guess our production house wanted to settle the matter without it becoming worse. I was helpless; they hit me before I went into my make up room. Once I was there, there was no network so I could not call anyone or even go out."

Even after being physically assaulted, scared Anuj does not plan on lodging a complaint against the ad agency. He's just going to be more careful about the assignments he takes up next time. "I live alone in Mumbai and I do not know anyone here. They wanted to kidnap me so I got scared. Plus, I was already tense about my grandmother. Finally, I decided to sign the papers that said I was apologising. I didn't sleep that whole night. You can imagine what it feels like: being a guy, I had to tolerate being beaten up by goons!" says Anuj.

Talking about his grand mother's condition, the actor says that she is slightly better now and is due for surgery today (May 28). He adds, "But I have already spent two days in Delhi and my production house is calling me back so I will not be present during the operation. Shooting is on a very tight schedule and I also need to rehearse for the Star Parivaar Awards. Everything has happened at the same time. My family is going to keep me updated about my grandmother. She wanted to come for the awards function but now I don't know if she will be able to. I have a full faith in God and I will pray for her. It's going to be tough concentrating on work."