Harshika, Barbie, Bhuvan walk out of film

Director Niyaaz Ahmed’s upcoming Premaya Namaha is in trouble. The film’s cast, including Barbie Handa, Harshika Poonacha and Bhuvan Ponanna, have all left the project alleging that they’d been cheated by Niyaaz.
According to the cast, Niyaaz had turned producer with the film Yenidu Manasali in June last year. Vijay Raghavendra and Bhuvan Ponanna were cast as heroes and were to star opposite Ishita Dutta and her sister Tanushree.But, both the girls opted out of the project. When the movie resumed shoot in September, Harshika came on board as the heroine. But a few months later, fed up with the delay in the project, Vijay Raghavendra decided to opt out of the film, and now Harshika and Bhuvan have followed suit.
Premaya Namaha, according to Bhuvan, is Yenidu Manasali with a title change. “Niyaaz told us that we’d start afresh. The subject would be the same. He even made a partial payment for our work, so we trusted him again and agreed to do the film,” he adds.
Harshika also claims that Niyaaz told her that she’d be the only heroine in the film. “I was surprised to see Ramya Barna at a press meet. Niyaaz said that she was only doing a promo song. By then, Barbie’s name was also doing the rounds. When I asked Niyaaz, he said Barbie didn’t have much to do in the film, but that her name would garner publicity. That’s when I decided to walk out of the film,” says Harshika, adding that there were pending dues in remuneration as well.
Niyaaz, however, claims that all payments have been settled and insists that he is the one who has been cheated. “I came to Sandalwood with big dreams. But my previous production team cheated me and I suffered huge losses. I have nothing against Vijay, Harshika or Bhuvan. I’ve settled all their payments,” says Niyaaz. But he insists Barbie is in the film. “Premaya Namaha is a fresh script and I’ve replaced Harshika and Bhuvan with a new star cast,” he says.
- Contributed by Madhu Daithota