Neetu Chandra alleges she was manhandled by southern star

Mumbai, Dec 27: Bollywood actress Neetu Chandra, who was shooting for a Telugu film in Hyderabad, has alleged that she was manhandled by her co-star southern hero Rajasekhar.The actor`s wife has, however, rubbished the allegations and accused the starlet of unprofessionalism.

Neetu said she was in Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad, on a five-day shoot Dec 19-23 for Telugu film “Sathyameva Jayathe”, which is being directed by Rajasekhar`s wife Jeevitha, when the incident took place. “They were shooting for almost 18 hours a day...I couldn`t take so much exertion as I was already down with fever for four days on Tuesday (Dec 23). So at 11 p.m., I went to my room to rest for a while as there was time for my next shoot and Ramoji (Film City) is just five minutes from my hotel,” Neetu said over telephone Friday. “I had just sat on my bed when Rajasekhar, Jeevitha and a couple of their staff barged into my room. Rajasekhar screamed at me and said, `How could you leave the sets? Get up right now before I change into something else from a man!`” The actress, who was last seen in “Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!”, said the southern star even threatened to kill her. “He pushed me into the lift and shouted `I`ll kill you. What will you do, you don`t know me`. He kept pushing me till the car saying `You better walk fast`." “I couldn`t say anything as everyone there knows he has a licensed revolver and he was also drunk at that time. I was scared to death,” Neetu recalled. The actress then shot for one-and-a-half hours before fleeing from the hotel. “After the shoot was over, my hairdresser and I both went back to the hotel, packed our stuff in 15 minutes and left for the airport at 2.30 am, even though the flight to Mumbai was at 9 am,” she said. Asked if she would take legal action against Rajasekhar, Neetu said: “I can`t talk about it right now.” Rajasekhar`s wife Jeevitha has, however, brushed aside these allegations and accused Neetu of being "unprofessional". "She just walked away from the shoot without informing anyone. It was the last day of her shoot and nearly 80 people were involved. Neetu had complained of fever and my husband, who is also a professional doctor, gave her some tablets. We had decided to shoot two more sequences, but then thought we would just finish one scene. But she had disappeared and had even switched off her phone," Jeevitha said on Saturday. She added: "Then I went with my husband to her room and pleaded with her to complete the day`s work, which would have finished in just half an hour. Since we had planned the film`s release on Jan 15, we wanted to finish her work that day." "I admit that I spoke a little harshly and my husband, who pleaded with her, got irritated with her behaviour and warned her that she would have to pay for her unprofessionalism. She came and finished her work, but later we heard that she had made baseless charges against us in the media." Jeevitha also said that Rajasekhar was not drunk at the time of the incident. "Neetu Chandra has claimed that my husband was drunk when he came to her room. How can a person be drunk while shooting for a film? My husband enjoys a great reputation for the past 20 years. How can we assault her in a hotel? She wasn`t staying on an island disconnected from people," the director remarked. IANS