Sonali Joshi Pitale (MID-DAY; May 5, 2014)

Television actress Shilpa Shinde, who features in Lapataganj’s ongoing season, recently landed in a spot of trouble, when she got into a verbal duel with some members of Cine & Television Artistes Association (CINTAA). This ruckus even led to the cancellation of a shoot and the actress may also get fined by the union. A source from the unit says, “It was a seven to seven shift and since we were setting up a night shoot, it got a little delayed. But then one of the junior artistes complained about the shift getting extended by a few hours, and some union people arrived on the sets and created a ruckus about making the artistes work overtime. They even tried to stop the shooting; this has happened earlier as well except this time the situation escalated when Shilpa decided to intervene and the union people threatened her.”

Confirming the news, Shilpa says, “I cancelled my other work for this shoot and the union people just barged in and halted our shoot for more than an hour. Kicking up a fuss like this is not done, as it delays the shoot further. This time around, I told them that if they want artistes and technicians to not work, then they should just demand a pack up instead of interrupting the shoot.” She claims that she was threatened by one of the union members. “I don’t remember the name of the person but one of them told me that he would make sure that I don’t get work in this industry. Then the production team sorted out the issue and we had to pack up. I still don’t know if the union is planning to fine me to the tune of Rs 50,000. But if they do, I will ask them to pay me Rs 1 lakh because I am not scared of any organisation,” says the actress.

Another source says that the issue was finally resolved on the following day when the producers met with CINTAA officials. “Shooting for the show has already resumed and everything is back on track,” says the source.

When contacted, producer Ashwini Dheer said, “I out of town and I am not aware about the incident.” Dharmesh Tiwari from CINTAA remained unavailable for comment.