‘We are filing a defamation case against the producer’

Actor Manasi Salvi clears the air regarding her exit from Mahadev & Sons, amid contractual issues which have emerged with the makers

Kabir Singh Bhandari

A few months after the launch of Mahadev & Sons, reports stated Manasi Salvi, who plays Bhanu Bajpai, would be exiting the show. While it was believed that the reason had to do with the number of her working days being reduced, the issue has now spiralled into a contractual issue with the makers.

The Free Press Journal reached out to Manasi, the Colors team, and Parin Multimedia to understand what exactly had transpired. While we spoke to Manasi Salvi, at the time of going to press, we did not receive a reply from the others.

According to Manasi, she had sent an email to Saurabh Tewari at Parin Multimedia and to her network head at Colors that she wanted to leave the show by May 15. She received no reply from their end. The reason why she wanted to leave was because, on various occasions, the producer had sent her messages and voice notes telling her that the channel doesn’t want her or her character, and only he was fighting for it, because of which she got whatever small parts in the episodes. However, she also has emails from the network which say that it is the producer who might be manipulating her to believe that the network does not want her. Manasi said that for seven months she did get manipulated, with her dates not working out at all.

So, when she expressed in an official email that she would be bowing out of the show on May 15, Manasi was expecting the production house to send her a mail back saying that she was bound by a contract and cannot leave like that. Instead, she got an email saying that “It was a pleasure to have you on the show Mahadev & Sons. We will finish your work before May 15. Please collect your contract signed copy by the producer from our office.” This email was sent to her on April 21.

Word regarding all of this spread on the set and to the media, post which strong reactions started coming on social media, where some netizens started saying that without her they would not watch the show.

“On May 1, 11 days after sending me the exit mail, I got another email which said that they are retracting the previous mail and renewing the old contract. Now, this is not tenable in the law. My lawyers replied on the same day stating that this wasn’t legal. Today is May 5, and till now the producer has not replied to my mail, but gone and ranted everywhere—to the media, the Producers Association, and Artists Association. This is something beyond my understanding. I’m not understanding this. We are filing a defamation case against the producer for distorting the facts. It’s very difficult for me to share details of legal proceedings in the media, but have no choice left now,” Manasi told us over a call.

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They retracted my exit mail and tried renewing my contract, which isn’t legally tenable. My lawyers responded, and we are filing a defamation case. 

— Manasi Salvi,  actress