‘I wasn’t even paid the signing amount’

As excited as she was about recreating the Gadar magic with Sunny Deol and director Anil Sharma, Ameesha Patel (above) has now walked out of the film, Singh Sahib The Great, owing to “unprofessionalism” on part of the makers.

“They were putting me on hold constantly because of which I could not do justice to my other projects. They were first going to shoot in November which was pushed to December and then to January. I can’t sit idle for 90 days waiting to be called. My other films were suffering because of it,” says the actor, adding, “I was not able to commit to anyone and was losing out on work.”

The actor says she agreed to work on the film without a contract. “I worked on my costumes with designer Neeta Lulla. Anilji wanted me to watch some Punjabi films and I tutored myself, and all this without even a signing amount or a contract. Everything was very unprofessional. I could not finish dubbing for Shortcut Romeo and had to opt out of some promotional activities for Race 2. I did not want to come across as unprofessional to my other producers, so, I thought it was better to opt out of the film.” Wasn’t Anil Sharma offended when she told him she was walking out? “You can’t be offended when you know you are wrong. I wish Anilji all the best with this project and I hope it becomes another Gadar.”

When contacted, director Anil Sharma said, “She has herself admitted that she was not signed for the film, so where does the question of her backing out arise?”