Apparently Upen was so exasperated by the clothes provided to him that he cut the shirt piece by piece with a scissors.
To his credit Upen currently focusing on consolidating his space as a reliable actor, doesn't deny the story. "You tell me what is one supposed to do when one is working with actors of the caliber if Govinda and Manoj Bajpai? Focus on getting my acting right, or external trappings like clothes and makeup?
I wanted the people chosen to take care of my clothes to do their job while I did mine. Unfortunately these two new people just kept offering clothes that didn't go with my character.
They'd bring 5 teeshirts and 10 pair of jeans picked up from the pavements and want me to choose. Is this the way to build a graph for the character?"
Upen takes a deep breath and controls himself. "I do not have a temper problem. And I certainly don't throw a fit for no reason. But there's just so much a person take before losing his cool.
One day these costume designers would ask me to show my body in my clothes. The next day they wanted me shirtless for no rhyme or reason. I strongly believe the clothes play a big hand in establishing a graph and continuity to the characters.
You can't put me in any thing just because I've a good body. Sorry. I won't flaunt my physique for no rhyme or reason."
Upen gives full marks to his regular designers for dressing him up decently. "When my friend Manish Malhotra or Narendra Kumar do my clothes we sit and discuss my look and decide the clothes accordingly.
But during Money Hai To Honey Hai the clothes were a bit too casual for me. So yes, I did lose my cool. Thoough I'm not proud of it, I am not apologetic about it either because it was done under provocation."
The deadlock between the designing-duo and Upen ended with the producer Kumar Mangat agreeing to let another designer of Upen's choice being flown into Mauritius to do his clothes.