'Lapataganj' actress Shilpa Shinde may have to pay a penalty for speaking her mind against CINTAA's union

Television actress Shilpa Shinde, who features in Lapataganj's ongoing season, recently landed in a spot of trouble, when she got into a verbal duel with some members of Cine & Television Artistes Association (CINTAA). This ruckus even led to the cancellation of a shoot and the actress may also get fined by the union. A source from the unit says, `It was a seven to seven shift and since we were setting up a night shoot, it got a little delayed. But then one of the junior artistes complained about the shift getting extended by a few hours, and some union people arrived on the sets and created a ruckus about making the artistes work overtime. They even tried to stop the shooting; this has happened earlier as well except this time the situation escalated when Shilpa decided to intervene and the union people threatened her.`

Confirming the news, Shilpa says, `I cancelled my other work for this shoot and the union people just barged in and halted our shoot for more than an hour. Kicking up a fuss like this is not done, as it delays the shoot further. This time around, I told them that if they want artistes and technicians to not work, then they should just demand a pack up instead of interrupting the shoot.`

She claims that she was threatened by one of the union members. `I don't remember the name of the person but one of them told me that he would make sure that I don't get work in this industry. Then the production team sorted out the issue and we had to pack up. I still don't know if the union is planning to fine me to the tune of R50, 000. But if they do, I will ask them to pay me R1 lakh because I am not scared of any organisation,` says the actress.


Another source says that the issue was finally resolved on the following day when the producers met with CINTAA officials. `Shooting for the show has already resumed and everything is back on track,` says the source.

When contacted, producer Ashwini Dheer said, `I out of town and I am not aware about the incident.` Dharmesh Tiwari from CINTAA remained unavailable for comment.