Television actor Chahat Pandey has refuted rumours that she is contemplating suicide over non-payment of dues by the producers- Devyani Rale and Jyoti Gupta, of her TV show Humari Bahu Silk. The cast and crew of the now off-air show have made headlines since lead actor Zaan Khan made a few social media posts and claimed that the actors and technicians on the show have not received payment. Due to their desperate situation, they have resorted to making threats of attempting suicide.
Apparently, the payments are due since a year now and the matters have worsened due to the current state of the nation during the lockdown. Many of the actors and technicians are facing extreme financial crunch in the absence of new work. Apparently, a report in an online portal had alleged that even Chahat was on the ‘verge of committing suicide’ and was stopped by her mother. Now, Chahat has come forward to refute the rumours and clear the confusion.
She said, “Actually, one day my mother was very angry and we were having a discussion in a group call about this issue. And she just said, ‘Agar meri beti ne kuch ulta seedha kar liya toh kaun zimedar hoga (Who would be responsible if my daughter took any drastic step?). I think that must have led to the confusion. But ab paani sar ke uppar se jaa chuka hai, sab ki haalat kharab hai. Main nahi chahti koi bhi aaisa galat kadam uthaaye (But water has now gone over the head. I don’t want anyone to take a wrong step).”
Chahat told the portal on why they kept mum about the payments for so long and said, “When the show went off air, producers had told us that they can't pay right now as the channel (Zee TV) has not released their money. And even then, shamelessly they had told us that they will be able to give us only 40% of the due amount and that too, later on. If you guys are okay with that then take or leave it. Two days before the show was about to go off air, my co-star Zaan Khan and I demanded for a post-dated cheque for the pending dues of the team, which they provided with the date of two months later. It was nearly one crore rupees but when we submitted the cheque on the written date, it didn't bounce but the bank refused to release the payment. When we asked for the reason, they said that the customer has requested to stop the said transaction.”
She further told the portal about what they intended to do for payment and said, “Agar lockdown nahi hota, toh hum sab Zee TV ke office ke bahar dharna dete aur tab tak nahi uthte jab tak hamari payment nahi hoti. Itne disturbed hain hum sab. (If the lockdown would not have been there then we would have demanded our fee at Zee TV’s office premises and staged a protest till the payment was released.)” She revealed that they have finally approached CINTAA
(Source: Hindustan Times/Instagram/Spotboye/ABP News)
