Sonali Joshi Pitale (MID-DAY; May 20, 2015)

If the latest buzz in the industry is to be believed, then Milind Soman who is a part of an upcoming Marathi film, Nagrik, has not been promoting the film of late. This is because he is busy shooting for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Bajirao Mastani.

Nagrik is said to be based on the life of mid-day’s slain crime journalist J Dey. Milind after initial weeks of promotions stopped turning up at promotional events.

Says a source, “Milind plays a powerful politician in the film and attended a couple of events initially. However, recently when the team began channel interactions and reality show visits, he didn’t turn up at the last minute in spite of promising the makers.” Those in the know say that the producer was unhappy about the situation, but couldn’t do anything about it.

Another source says,“Milind has already committed to shoot for Bajirao Mastani in which he is playing negative role. So he is currently completing the shoot in Film City and cannot attend all the promotional events.”

Producer Sachin Chavan denied the buzz. While Milind maintains, “I wonder why anyone would say that. I have been a part of a few promotional events, but my recent shooting schedule for Bajirao Mastani is overlapping with Nagrik’s promotion dates. The producer and I are reworking our time-table so that I can continue to be part of it.”