Popular Bollywood actress Mandana Karimi, also known among fans as the runner up of Bigg Boss Hindi season 9, has alleged that the producer of her upcoming film had misbehaved with her. Mandana has claimed that producer Mahendra Dhariwal had shouted at her after the last day’s shoot of their upcoming film, Kola Kola. In turn, Mahendra Dhariwal has accused the actress of showing unprofessional behavior. 

Speaking about the incident in an interview to Times of India, Mandana said the confrontation took place on the last day of Kola Kola's shoot, a day before Diwali. Known for her roles in popular Hindi films such as Bhaag Johnny and Main Aur Charles, Mandanna said, "I am still in shock about what happened and how it happened. Koka Kola is a film that we have been working on for over a year now, and it’s been one of those jobs that you do despite knowing that the team is not being very professional. We all end up doing a few such jobs to just keep ourselves afloat. From the beginning, I had problems with this crew. The producer (Mahendra Dhariwal) is an old-school man who turns the set into a man-dominated, egoistic place. There are places where projects are driven by one person’s ego. That’s not new, but what happened on November 13 has shaken me up."

Mandana further went on to state that she wanted to wrap up her portions on the last day of the shoot so she can head to another meeting that she had planned for. She added that she had come to the shoot early that day and clocked in the necessary hours. However, when the time for the wrap-up came, producer Mahendra Dhariwal had asked her to stay back for an extra hour. However, Mandana refused stating she had a meeting, which he then acknowledged, after which she completed her last few takes for a song that was being shot. "But the moment I left the set and went to my vanity van to change, he forcefully came inside and started shouting 'You can’t leave. I asked you to do an extra hour and you have to listen because I am the producer and I have paid you'", the former Bigg Boss runner up stated. 

On the other hand, producer Mahendra gave his own narrative of the incident saying, "We were shooting for Koka Kola with Sunny Leone and Mandana Karimi before the pandemic hit us. The shoot was halted due to the lockdown. We had signed Mandana for Rs 7 lakhs, but once the shooting began and got into continuity, she started acting up. Like when we were shooting in Delhi and she had to stay back for a day, she demanded Rs 2 lakh to be paid to her. Post-lockdown, when we started planning our shoot again, and we reached out to her for dates, she said she is busy. She demanded a sum of Rs 2 lakh a day for these new dates. She wanted the money to be paid in advance, which I did."