Laapataa Ladies actor Satendra Soni, who had earlier also raised issues regarding non-payment of his dues, has now filed a Zero FIR against filmmaker couple Pushpendra Singh and his wife, actress Pragati Chauhan, at Amboli Police Station in Mumbai. The actor accused the two of non-payment of dues, assault, intimidation and wrongful confinement during the shoot of their film Paid Paalki. The actor also alleged that the couple harassed him over his appearance and dwarfism, leading to his poor mental, physical and financial well-being.

Soni, in his complaint, emphasized that he is a struggling actor and acting is his only source of income. The actor claimed that Pushpendra Singh finalized him for the film at a remuneration of Rs 30,000 per day, which would make the total agreed amount Rs 3 lakh, and that he was allegedly paid Rs 50,000 as an advance. Soni revealed the filmmaker promised him the pending amount would be paid in installments. But the actor revealed the situation changed once he reached the shooting location in Madhya Pradesh.

Soni further alleged that when he arrived for the shoot in Madhya Pradesh, he was initially provided with no vanity van, but when one was later provided, it was shared with the entire cast. He also complained about the poor sanitization and food arrangements.

The actor revealed that after he heard about non-payment issues among the crew, he contacted Raja Chaudhary, an assistant director on the project, out of concern. Soni claimed that he was being disrespected and mistreated over his dwarfism. He even mentioned that people used to take pictures with him without his consent.

When Soni objected to the treatment, the assistant director escalated the issue to Pragati. However, instead of offering support, she allegedly abused him, called him a dwarf, and rejected his payment. The actor claimed that he even worked for 16 hours with just a samosa.

Soni further accused Pragati of threatening to kill him. He shared that the filmmakers also assaulted the film’s lead actor, Shridhar Dubey, when he decided to leave the project.

In response to Satendra’s warnings, filmmaker Pushpendra reportedly threatened to die by suicide and write the names of the actor and his team in his suicide note. Also, Pragati threatened him with false legal cases. Following this, the actors called the police, and the couple pleaded not to halt the shoot. After which the police asked both parties to resolve the dispute, with the actors insisting that their pending compensation be cleared before they resumed shooting. But no such settlements took place. The actor shared that the couple has also been involved in a similar matter earlier.

However, there is no confirmation on the claims yet.