Filmmaker and former actress Pooja Bhatt confirmed to The Asian Age the unpleasant altercation between her film crew and the police at the Udaipur Collectorate office over the shooting of her film Bad.
She said, “The SP manhandled the unit, hit my light boys, abused me, and manhandled us in front of a 100 people.”
Superintendent of police Hariprasad Sharma, however, denied Bhatt’s claims and said, “It is an unfortunate incident. When I was going in to my office, I found a group occupying the entrance, who asked me to stay away. It was unfair, so I introduced myself and asked them to leave the site. They were arrogant and not ready to listen,” adding that he wasn’t aware of the shooting.
Police sources said that the SP had been barred from his office by the film crew, which angered him, leading to the argument. The crew, however, pleaded with the officer to allow them to continue, as they had already obtained permission from the district magistrate. Bhatt tweeted later that the SP had only been asked to wait for five minutes, as they were wrapping up a scene.
Bhatt has also expressed that her team was not wrong in any way, stating that her complaint would not have seen the light of day if it was so, and that the divisional commissioner had asked her to put her statement into writing, which would be sent to the commissioner, the inspector-general and the chief minister of Rajasthan.
SP Sharma said, “The matter has been amicably resolved. Yes, Ms Bhatt did come there and made her point.”
Sources said that the shooting had been halted temporarily, but resumed shortly after the
incident.