Vikram Bhatt lashes out against his protegee Adah Sharma

It's not often you hear of a master being snubbed by his muse, especially when the former is a well-known filmmaker in Bollywood and the latter just a newcomer. Vikram Bhatt, however, is learning the hard way that it does not always pay to play 'godfather'.

His protegee, Adah Sharma, who made her debut with his critically acclaimed horror flick 1920 in 2008, is giving her one-time mentor sleepless nights.

Not only is she staying away from the promotional events of his film Phirr in which she stars, but she is also refusing to shoot for a music video Bhatt wants to put together for the promotion of the same movie.

Unbelievable

Incensed, hurt and baffled, Vikram Bhatt says, "It's hard to believe Adah is behaving this way with us. I launched her in 1920. Then, I signed her for another supernatural thriller Phirr with her 1920 co-star Rajneesh Duggal.

Now when we're ready to release it, Rajneesh is rightly going all-out to promote the film, while Adah is being elusive."

Apparently, the actress is not accepting calls from Bhatt's office. "We want to shoot a video with Rajneesh and Adah. But she's inaccessible. She probably thinks this film will do nothing for her career. She is apparently busy with some other film directed Jyotin Goel, " he says.

Vikram says he has not called her personally yet. "I can't reduce myself to chasing my protegees. But it's humiliating enough that she doesn't take calls from my office.

It hurts to be treated this way when I am one of the few directors who chooses to work with new talent, whether it was John Abraham in Aetbaar, Emran Hashmi in Footpath, Sushmita Sen in Dastak, or Adah and Rajneesh in 1920. I gave them a break. To see the same people break your trust eventually is heartbreaking."

Strangely, Adah claims not to be aware of this rift between Vikram and her, or that the filmmaker is upset with her high-handed behaviour.

"He has a keen sense of humour; I'm sure he was just joking. Vikram is a father figure to me. He gave me 1920 because of which I'm getting to play fantastic roles and endorsing big brands, " she says, insisting that she is in constant touch with the Phirr team.

"I even dubbed for the film twice after it got leaked online, " she adds.

Vikram, however, refutes her claim with a sarcastic barb: "One of us is hallucinating."