The Ekta-Pulkit Face/Off

The good-looking Pulkit Samrat who plays Lakshya in Kyunkii Saas Bhi Kabhii Bahu Thi has dragged Ekta Kapoor (Balaji telefilms) the producer of the show to court over non-payment of dues and prohibiting him from working with other producers due to the 3 year contract with Balaji. Samrat who came from Delhi to Mumbai to pursue a career in acting has been working for Balaji Telefilms since 2006. He began his career with Kyunki but after a few months his role was reportedly chopped which upset the actor. Despite claiming to have made requests, he maintains nothing was done and Pulkit decided to opt for other work. This was when the production house did not permit him to do so saying that he was under an exclusive contract for three years. Pending the hearing Justice Chandrachud of Mumbai High Court appointed an arbitrator and asked Ekta Kapoor to refrain from ‘arm twisting’ Pulkit. Tellychakkar spoke to Pulkit and Balaji Telefilms to get an insight into the showdown. Pulkit says, “I was not comfortable with the working environment. There was so much of miscommunication happening and Ekta preferred to listen to the people around her rather than me. I would state that I still have no bad blood for Ekta Kapoor who gave me my big break on television.” Pulkit continues, “I have worked hard on the character 24x7 which I don’t mind doing but the role has to be substantial. I was taken aback when they went to press claiming that I was not reporting for the shoots and not taking the calls. This was not true.” Pulkit adds, “I was receiving calls from my fans and friends about the whole issue and that was the time I thought of reacting as the whole episode was breaking my image. I needed to protect my interests as an actor. I tried to sort out things with Ekta and even apologised to her but she was not ready to trust me. Now I can’t wait for another two years for her to cool down and understand my position.” Pulkit adds, “There were producers of serials and films coming to me and asking me if I would be interested in working outside Balaji but the production house said that I was contractually bound by them for three years which says I can’t work outside.” On the filing of case Pulkit says, “Somebody had to do it. One has to work with people and there has to be a healthy working environment.” On the issue of non-payment of dues he explains, “I was supposed to get five thousand per episode. Some of my dues remain unpaid which amount to rupees 3-4 lakhs. My lawyer is going to claim that.” Balaji Telefilms claims that the actor was unprofessional and reports have it that now Ekta will file for damages against Pulkit. Creative head Balaji Telefilms Nivedita Basu says, “I am not the right person to talk about the dues that we would claim. Only our legal advisor can talk about it.” Nivedita, said, “I have no idea what happened to Pulkit. I don’t understand why he went to such an extent. He is saying that there was miscommunication but I can’t understand that when he had to do a film last year he communicated with us and the problem started brewing only after that.” Nivedita adds, “He stopped reporting to shoots and because of him other artists too suffered. He just accommodated two-three hours when we required almost 12-14 hours from him.” Pulkit claims that his one time meaty role was cut short to almost that of an extra and that was also one of the reasons that resulted in the show down. Nivedita replies, “We are not to be blamed as we could do nothing about it. If an artist is not ready to give us time for the shoot what else can we do? We were not fools to do this when the show was concentrating on Krishnatulsi, Eklavya and Lakshya’s triangle. He is saying that he wanted opportunities then why couldn’t he tell us the same? We could have accommodated him in our other shows.”