Designer lashes out at actor for backing out from promoting brand, claims she incurred Rs 40 lakh loss
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; September 20, 2017)

Two days before the release of her film Haseena Parkar, Shraddha Kapoor finds herself in controversy. Clothing manufacturer M&M Designs, under its label of AJTM (A J Mistry and Thea Minhas - pictured below), has filed a complaint against Kapoor and the film’s producer, Swiss Entertainment, accusing them of cheating and criminal breach of trust. The designers were entrusted with designing the looks of eight characters in the film, including that of Kapoor, Siddhanth Kapoor and Ankur Bhatia. The complaint has been filed against the lead actor for allegedly not promoting the fashion label during the promotional activities of the film, violating their agreement.

Speaking to mid-day, Minhas said, “I have incurred a loss of Rs 40 lakh. Shraddha had consented personally to everything, before we drafted the contract. We’d discussed [the clauses] with her. In fact, she was not comfortable [with certain clauses] and we removed them from the contract. The barter deliverables included that she wear our creations to at least 30 per cent of the film’s promotional events. She was also supposed to shoot a special video at the store and inaugurate the Haseena line of clothing at my store.”

The designer added that Kapoor was supposed to walk the ramp for the brand at a recently-concluded fashion week in the city, but backed out at the last minute. “It was right in the middle of her film promotions, so she could have accommodated it. I feel hurt and cheated.”

Minhas alleged that the production team stopped taking their calls once the shoot was wrapped up. “Apoorva Lakhia [director of the film] is the only one who kept coordinating between Shraddha and us, before he got busy with promotions. We have decided to take legal recourse because it’s clear they [ the actor and the production house] won’t keep their end of the promise.”

Meanwhile, sources from the production house maintained that there was no official contract, siding with Kapoor whilst calling Minhas’s claims bogus. “We don’t want to give them publicity,” says a production insider, requesting anonymity.

However, mid-day is in possession of a copy of the contract drawn out last year, between the two parties. Advocate Rizwan Siddiquee, who is representing the designers, said, “It is shocking to note that Ms. Shraddha Kapoor’s team has given a media statement, claiming that Shraddha does not even know my clients. My clients have sufficient corroborative evidence to prove every claim as made in the Criminal Complaint.”

The case is up for hearing on October 26. Kapoor remained unavailable for comment till the time of going to press.