Sonali Joshi Pitale (MID-DAY; April 2, 2015)

Fashion designer Vikram Phadnis’ directorial debut Nia was supposed to roll in January, but budget hassles have apparently delayed the film. Last week, lead actor Rana Daggubati walked out of the project citing date issues and now there is buzz that leading lady Bipasha Basu might be shown the door.

A source says producer Vashu Bhagnani recently decided to come on board to tackle the budget woes, but on the condition that Bips be replaced. The duo’s equation soured last year when the actress refused to promote Sajid Khan’s Humshakals, which was produced by Bhagnani. “At that time, he had publicly expressed that he won’t ever work with Bipasha due to her unprofessional attitude. Now he has told Vikram that he will back his project only if she is ousted from it,” adds the source.

The director did not confirm Bips’ imminent exit from Nia, but denied rumours about budget problems. “The delay is not because of casting or budget. The only reason is that I am currently in London on some work. Rana’s dates were clashing with two of his other films so he had to leave my film. We were initially supposed to shoot during the winter, but now the film has moving to summer. So, I am re-working its look,” he reasons.

Bhagnani remained unavailable for comment.