Tiff ensues between Priyadarshan and producer Ratan Jain over paying the amount to the actor for his cameo in an upcoming film

After Mallika Sherawat being brought in to perform an item song against director Priyadarshan's wishes, another dispute has broken out between the him and producer Ratan Jain.

The issue is over the Malayalam veteran Mohanlal's money. And this time Priyadarshan is not budging from his stance.

We hear the director insisted that Mohanlal be paid Rs 1 crore for his cameo in Tezz. Apparently the producer Ratan Jain felt that it was a bit exorbitant a price for an actor, no matter how brilliant, who has no market in Bollywood.

Explains the director caustically, "Mohanlal doesn't come cheap. Every actor has a stature and a fan following. You can't take him for granted.

For his cameo in Tezz, I insisted he be paid what he gets for a full-fledged role in Malayalam cinema. Getting paid less here would have spoilt Mohanlal's market in Kerala."

Says Priyan, "Mohanlal is not interested in doing Hindi films. His Hindi is poor. But I insisted he do the cameo of a cop in Tezz and I turned his character into a south Indian so that his accent won't be a problem."

Ratan Jain refrained from comment.

Moolah matters

In the past, Mohanlal is said to have walked out of Vishal Bharadwaj's Saat Khoon Maaf after he felt he was being short-changed in money matter.