Sonali Joshi Pitale (MID-DAY; January 15, 2015)

Director Siddharth Malhotra is a hassled man. For, actresses he has worked with in the past have been calling him up, asking for details of his next project. To his shock, some of them have even sent out their pictures to an unknown person posing as the director.

Siddharth says, “I was on holiday when I got a call from Sanjeeda Sheikh (television actress). Someone used my name and messaged her saying that I was casting for my upcoming project and wanted her photographs. I was shocked as I am personally not involved in the casting process. It is always done by a casting director and my team. I have asked her to be wary of such messages.”

When the director returned home after a few days, he got more calls from other actresses. This prompted him to file a case with the Bandra police. As evidence, he has submitted screen grabs of the photo requests to different actors. “The police have already started investigation. I have tried to reach out to as many people as possible via social media to inform them about the imposter. The number has been traced to the US. Bandra police have also registered a case with the cyber cell. I hope the pictures of the actresses are not misused,” he adds.