Lajmi refutes producer’s charges

"A film’s budget is never final. All my proposals were accepted by him verbally. The escalation he’s talking about took place during a time span of three years — from 1994 to June 1997. The cost of film production more than doubled during this period," she said. After NFDC withdrew as co-producer on October 30, 1995, Pandit asked her to ensure that the film adhered to standards as high as those of Maachis, which had won him considerable acclaim. "The timber dealers, equipment dealers and costume designer Simple Kapadia haven’t been paid till date. He gave me a letter of my dismissal as executive producer, and I’ve no idea of what the final cost till the first print came to," she said.

Lajmi also said she felt the need to clarify her position before leaving town for shooting her next film because she might otherwise be accused of running away. "He’s been threatening to take me to court for almost a year now. He has always used abusive language with me in the presence of his staff and my unit. He even told me he would engineer income-tax raids on me," Lajmi said.