Pay up: Ekta to Manyata
Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 7, 2014)

The list of Sanjay Dutt's legal troubles just got longer. The actor, who is currently incarcerated, is facing a lawsuit from Ekta Kapoor, who is represented by Naik Naik & Co.

Ekta has taken the actor to court over Rs 1.5 crore that she paid Sanjay for a film which she was to co-produce with Suniel Shetty.

Mirror has it that recently Suniel tried to sort out the matter by approaching Sanjay's wife Manyata Dutt and requested her to pay up and end the matter, but the plea fell into deaf ears.

The story goes that Ekta and Sanjay had locked a mega deal in 2008, which was supposed to flag off with a film starring Sanjay. The film was supposed to be co-produced by Ekta and Suniel. But soon, Ekta and Sanjay fell out and called off the deal.

However the damage was already done. At Suniel's insistence, Ekta had paid Sanjay Rs 1.5 crore as signing amount for the first film.

Buzz is, Sanjay got miffed when Ekta decided to join hands with his then friend-turned-foe Sanjay Gupta to produce Shootout At Wadala, which released in 2013.

Sanjay and Gupta had squabbled over monetary issues during the making of Shootout at Lokhandwala (2007). The duo thereafter terminated their professional and personal ties. That they made up after few years is a different story.

In the interim, Suniel and Gupta too fell apart after Suniel took Sanjay's side in the Dutt-Gupta war. However, they too have made up at a public event in July, last year.

Back to the present. Ekta is in no mood to forgive and forget.

A source says, " Money is money. And Ekta wants her money back. What's wrong in that? It is a justified demand and the Dutts should pay up."