Bharati Dubey (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 30, 2013)

Sunny Deol’s turn as an embattled priest of Varanasi in Mohalla Assi was touted as a watershed moment in his actingcareer. But the film which was completed 18 months ago is yet to see the light of the day.
 
Mirror has it that the director of the film, Chandraprakash Dwivedi is claiming that he has not yet been paid his dues by the film’s producer Vinay Tiwari.

Dwivedi has registered a complaint with the Indian Film and Television Director’s Association (IFTDA) in a bid to get the payment.

In the meantime Tiwari has reportedly started work on another film, Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho, prompting the IFTDA to send a letter to him. “We hereby give you the call to immediately stop work on Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho till the dispute matters of our members are resolved,” states the letter, of which Mirror has a copy. 

“If Vinay Tiwari has started work on another film that means that this is not a case of shortage of funds. Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi and his assistant directors, Rakesh Sahu and Narendra Tiwari, filed a complaint with us. There have been many discussions over the past eight months but Tiwari has not fulfilled his promise to pay up,” said IFTDA president Ashoke Pandit.

When this newspaper contacted Tiwari, he told us, “I have any received any letter from any association. I have cleared all payments.”