Subhash Ghai reacts to bullying allegations: I am amused, Mahima and I are good friends

Filmmaker Subhash Ghai has responded to bullying allegations by actor Mahima Chaudhry. In a recent interview, Mahima, who made her Bollywood debut opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Pardes (1997), said that the director bullied her and sent messages to other producers to not work with her. Speaking to Bollywood Hungama, Mahima recalled that Ghai took her to court and even tried to cancel her first show. She said that it was a stressful experience for her, adding that only Sanjay Dutt, Salman Khan, David Dhawan and Rajkumar Santoshi supported her at the time. 

Reacting to Mahima’s statements, Subhash Ghai said that he is ‘amused’ since he and Mahima ‘are very good friends to date and are still in touch through messages’. 

“She is a very nice and mature woman of today,” Subhash said in a press note. “She recently shared how she gets welcomed at every event with a song from Pardes - I love my India - even after 23 years. Yes, there was a small conflict in 1997 post the release of Pardes, which became a big blockbuster and for which she even got the Filmfare Award for Best Actor.”

Subhash Ghai admitted that his company (Mukta Arts) did send her a show cause notice for ‘flouting a clause in our agreement.’ However, following the media and industry reaction, he withdrew the notice and cancelled her contract. 

“After three years she came to me with her family and apologised for her impulsive reaction,” the filmmaker said. “I forgave her and thereafter we became friends again. She is a jovial good person I trust. She must be right in feeling that she was bullied when asked by someone. Actually, I admire her great gesture when she did a guest appearance in a song in my last film Kanchi in 2015. I guess we do get entertained with the smallest of an old tiff which is normal in course of life in showbiz.”

Previously, a female actor and model had filed a molestation complaint against Subhash Ghai in 2018. The director was later given a clean chit by the Mumbai Police.