Bollywood actress Janki Shah, who raised a storm alleging her producer had included her topless shots in a movie without her consent, said here Saturday she had no problem with her producer now.
"I don't have any problem with the scene, where the character I present tears off the bra, since it has got the clearance from the appellate tribunal of the censor board in Delhi," Janki told reporters about the scene in Hindi movie "Shaque" produced by Vinod Chhabra.
"Earlier when I raised my objection it was only because I did want to tell people that I was taken for granted," she said at a joint press conference with Chhabra. The film is scheduled for release on Oct 1.
"If my body is used, I think, I have the right to be informed. The scene was done without my knowledge," said the young actress.
According to Janki, she was asked to tear off her bra for the controversial shot. "I had given the shot believing that the shot would just give a glimpse of the bra tearing act, but it lasted longer," she claimed.
To this Chhabra stated that he had taken her written consent for this particular scene.
"She was ready for the smooching and the bikini scene but when I told her about the topless scene she told me to give her some time to think. I thought that she would never turn up for the shoot, but she did and did the shot well," he said.
The producer said he had screened more than 200 girls for his movie, "but all of them had said no to kissing and bikini scenes, it was only Janki, who consented to do all the scenes."
About the topless scene, Chhabra said, "She very much agreed to do the topless shot and we decided to shoot the scene after she was made familiar with the team of the film. We shot the scene at a mini stadium in Lucknow on July 28 last year."
Recreating the scene, he said that Janki was a bit nervous bearing her top, and therefore, he had asked the entire crew to leave the place.
"In order to keep Janki in good spirits I allowed fellow actresses in the room, and besides them, myself and the cameraman no one else was present at the shoot.
"After some initial moments of hesitation Janki did the scene. Later, as her fears disappeared she even did a retake for that scene with a special bra that she could easily tear apart," Chhabra said.
He said problems with his film began when Janki sent written complaints to regulator Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).
Later, Chhabra approached the Appellate Tribunal of Films Certifications in Delhi and got his film cleared.
"The five jury members of the tribunal agreed that the controversial scene was the demand of the story and cleared it, but it resulted in a nine-month delay of my film which almost put me on the brink of bankruptcy," he said.
Asked why Janki had now withdrawn the objections that she had raised earlier, Chhabra said, "It still puzzles me as to why she did all this."
But when pointed out that the entire issue sounded like a cheap publicity stunt, both the actress and her producer vehemently denied it.
While Chhabra said he had to suffer due to the delay in his movie release, Janki said, "No it was not a publicity stunt. I did not want to sound like Mallika Sheravat or Neha Dhupia that 'Yes, I did those scenes, and what's so fuss about them'.
"But now since the tribunal has given it the clearance, I don't have any problem with the scene," she said in the same breath.