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Irrfan plays tough

The well-mannered actor shocks the cast of Hiss with his demands

Accolades and international acclaim seem to have changed actor Irrfan Khan from an easy going person into a demanding star. Recently Irrfan halted the shooting of the Govind Menon produced and Jennifer Lynch directed film Hisss for two entire days refusing to shoot until he was paid his remuneration.

The film is the maiden production venture of Mallika Sherawat and her brother for which they had brought in a lot of top notch technicians from Hollywood. Mallika plays the lead role in the film.

Our source from the film’s set reveals, “Irrfan arrived late for his shoot and went directly to his van refusing to come out. The entire unit sat waiting for him to start shooting. The Hollywood crew who are new to such strange behaviour were visibly amused by the proceedings.”

Apparently Irrfan had signed this film for Rs2 crores and was paid a part of his remuneration in advance. He had informed the producers that he wanted the second installment of his fee after the film’s second schedule.

Adds our source, “Ever since Irrfan began shooting for the second schedule of Hisss he has been harassing producers Govind Menon and Vikram Singh, Mallika’s brother for his payment. A few days ago Irrfan threatened the producers that he wouldn’t shoot if he didn’t get his money. The producers told him that they would give him post-dated cheques which could be encashed within a month. However, Irrfan was adamant that he be paid right there and then.” The producers didn’t want to create a scene in front of the international crew and immediately arranged for him to be paid in cash. They thought that the actor would now be satisfied, but this only triggered Irrfan’s demands further.

A week after this incident the actor came to the sets but left without shooting. Our source reports, “Irrfan told the production house that he would return the next day but would shoot only if he got the last installment of his fee. Going by their past experience with Irrfan, the production house had kept a cheque ready for Irrfan. The next day when Irrfan was handed the cheque he still refused to shoot. He demanded that he be given a pay order rather than a cheque. The producers then arranged for a pay order to be given to him. Irrfan refused to shoot until it was handed over to him personally. He just sat in his van and kept the unit waiting until he was paid his final amount!”

This is strange behaviour coming from the usually well behaved Irrfan. Wonder what triggered off this bizarre behaviour?