‘Dirty Picture’ in Kannada is facing a lot of issues before the start of the film. And, the reason behind this is again Veena Malik and her visa problems. The actress who is the heroine of ‘Dirty Picture Sakath Hot Maga’ could not make it to the press meet in Bangalore on May 18 as the CBI wanted her to be present at the Mumbai office, before she headed anywhere for shooting.
Director Trishul who was in constant touch with her manager explains, “We have made at least a hundred calls both the sides only to know that she could not make it. She had applied for visa for two places — Bangalore and Goa. She got an approval for Goa but they had some issues with her visiting Bangalore. We heard from her that usually her personal assistant goes to the CBI office with the papers and get them approved. She was on her way to the airport to board the flight while she had asked her manager to get the papers sorted out after approval. However, the CBI after going through the visa papers for Bangalore wanted her to visit the CBI office before they okayed her visa for the city. By the time, she could go back to the office, it was too late. That’s why she could not come for the photo shoot and the press meet.”
Producer, Venkatappa lost almost Rs 650,000 because of Veena’s absence. He had arranged for a huge set up at Abhay Naidu Studio only for the photo shoot. He had also booked a five star hotel for herself and her assistants. “She could not make it on time and we could not postpone the meet to next day as we had to dismantle the set because the studio was booked for another movie. Apart from that, we had to cancel the hotel bookings too,” he says.
Veena Malik told us that she is ready to bear the cost of the losses incurred by the producer, says Trishul. “Now, it is a matter of prestige for us. In fact, she was ready to come today but her presence is not necessary, if she did not have any work here. We have told her to either come on May 24 to 25 or early June as the industry will not be working from May 27 to 29 because it happens to be senior actor, Ambarish’s birthday. This time we will not call the media till she reaches Bangalore. I hope there will be no more hiccups from now on. We are in constant touch with her. She has assured us that she will not miss out on anything the next time,” he says.