Salman dragged into the payment battle between director and producer of his 2011 superhit film with Asin

The remuneration battle between director Anees Bazmi and producer Bhushan Kumar is getting murkier by the day.

While Anees claims Bhushan owes him R 3 crore as well as a part of the profits of the Salman Khan film Ready, Bhushan says he has paid all the director's dues. In fact, he wants Salman to step in and sort out the issue.

Says Bhushan, "Anees has been given his full and final payment payment. That's the truth. Even Salmanbhai is aware that he has been fully paid. I don't know why he's making such claims now."

The producer alleges that Anees had voluntarily lowered his remuneration from R 9 crore to R 6 crore before he started directing Ready.

"Why is he claiming now that we owe him an extra Rs 3 crore, plus a part of the profits? That's absolutely baseless!

I run a company that does business worth R 600-700 crore per year. Why would I create an issue over a few crores?"

The issue, according to Bhushan, is a larger one of trust and ethics.

Can prove it

"We're completely in the right, and we're willing to prove it. We should sit down with Salmanbhai and sort it out. He knows all the facts," Bhushan says.