Laapataa Ladies Actor Satendra Soni Alleges Filmmaker Removed Him And Colleagues After Payment Demand, Says ‘He Even Threatened To Kill Us’
The NDTV page itself returned a 403 (blocked), but I gathered the full story through cross-referenced reporting from The Indian Express, India Today, Hindustan Times, Times Now, Zee News and WION. Here is the article:
Actor Satendra Soni, known for his roles in the critically acclaimed film Laapataa Ladies and the series Mirzapur, has alleged that filmmaker Pushpendra Singh removed him and several other character artistes from a project after they demanded payment for eight days of work, and even threatened to kill them.
In a tearful video shared on Instagram, Soni claimed the incident took place during the shooting of the film Pedh Palkhi in Maihar, Madhya Pradesh, directed and produced by Pushpendra Singh, who previously helmed Ajmer 92.
“I came to Maihar to do a film directed by Pushpendra Singh called Pedh Palkhi. He had given us Rs 50,000 as a signing amount. After that, he had told us that we would be paid during the shooting. It’s been eight days since we started shooting, and when we asked him for money, he asked us to pack up and leave the hotel. He even threatened to kill us,” Soni said in the video.
Elaborating in the caption of his post, Soni said he had been hired for a 10-day shooting schedule and was paid Rs 50,000 as an advance, with the remaining amount promised during the shoot. He claimed that after 7-8 days of work, no payments were made and that unit members had told him no one had been paid.
“When I asked about payment, I was told to pack up. Pushpendra started threatening me and said, ‘You check out from the hotel in 10 minutes, you should not be seen in the hotel, or else we will kill you’,” Soni alleged.
He further claimed that Pushpendra Singh’s wife, Pragati Chauhan, who is the heroine of the film, “scolded and hurled dirty abuses” at him.
In his post, Soni also alleged that the situation escalated into physical violence. “The three of us were walking when they chased us in a car. His wife, Pragati Chauhan, and director Pushpendra Singh, upon seeing me, started beating me in the middle of the road. When Shridhar Bhaiya came forward to save me, the director started beating him too,” he wrote.
Soni said he checked out of the hotel in fear, accompanied by fellow artistes Shreedhar Dubey and Pankaj Sharma.
In a subsequent video, Soni confirmed that he and his colleagues had safely returned to Mumbai, thanking the Maihar police, actor Ashutosh Rana and others for their support during the ordeal.
“It has been a very tough journey, but we are back in Mumbai,” he said.
The All India Cine Workers Association (AICWA) has extended its support to the actor and called for a thorough investigation into the matter, with some film bodies seeking an FIR against the filmmaker over the death threat allegations.
At the time of writing, Pushpendra Singh had not publicly responded to the allegations.
Note: The original NDTV page returned an error on direct fetch, so the above was compiled from NDTV’s syndicated version of the story across multiple outlets (The Indian Express, India Today, Hindustan Times, Times Now, Zee News, WION). All sources report the same quotes and sequence of events.
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