The newly engaged actress reportedly walked out of Abhishek Pathak’s new film ten days before it was scheduled to go on the floors
Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 29, 2016)

A day after news of Lisa Haydon’s engagement to her telecom tycoon beau, Dino Lalvani, surfaced we hear that the 30-year-old actress may now land in a legal tussle with the makers of Atithi In London. In the wake of the impending nuptials, Lisa who had signed on to play the female lead in the Abhishek Pathak film (Mirror, August 19) reportedly backed out ten days before the film was to go on the floors on September 24, hitting the shooting schedule for a toss. The film features Paresh Rawal and Tanvi Azmi as the atithis that Lisa and her onscreen love, Kartik Aaryan, were supposed to deal with.

“We had locked Lisa for the role, exchanged contracts and even got her visa ready. The set was ready in Filmalaya studio but we got a call from her manager ten days before the schedule that Lisa wasn’t interested in doing the film anymore. Suddenly, I hear from someone that she’s getting married which is why she can’t do our film. We had everything ready, from visas for the entire crew to locations. Now all that money is down the drain. My crew’s work permit visa is valid only for a limited period so I don’t know what to do now,” Pathak fumed, adding that Lisa made some “strange demands” initially but her backing out of the film was the final straw. “One day she told me that she couldn’t lip-sync for any of the songs. She was aware that it’s a commercial film and it would have songs but we complied, agreeing to go ahead with it.”

The filmmaker maintains that Lisa’s “unprofessionalism” has cost him dearly and that he plans to sue her. “These people come from abroad and don’t understand how people put in effort, sweat and blood to make a film. We shouldn’t be entertaining people who don’t understand the value of money that a producer puts into a film. The contract was handed over to her team long ago but they kept delaying signing it because she had other plans. Her agency had stated multiple times in mails that she was doing our film; she had sent us her passport details for the London schedule as well. We had already locked dates of senior actors like Pareshji (Paresh Rawal) and Tanviji (Tanvi Azmi), my London crew had been booked. We’re taking legal action against Lisa. Her talent management agency should take responsibility for this mess,” Pathak asserts.

Meanwhile, the London schedule of the film has been pushed forward by a week. “We are hoping to start by October 20. We are also hoping to lock a new girl soon,” Pathak signs off.