'Athithi in London' makers to sue Lisa Haydon for backing out in the last minute

Mumbai: Lisa Haydon, who is reportedly engaged to her telecom tycoon boyfriend Dino Lalvani, may have to face legal action after she backed out of Abhishek Pathak’s ‘Athithi in London’.

Lisa had signed the film as the female lead which will also see Paresh Rawal and Tanvi Azmi in pivotal roles. Haydon has reportedly walked out of the film ten days before the start of its shooting owing to her engagement and left the movie hanging.

An angry Pathak told Mumbai Mirror, “We had locked Lisa for the role, exchanged contracts and even got her visa ready. The set was ready in Filmalaya studio but we got a call from her manager ten days before the schedule that Lisa wasn’t interested in doing the film anymore. Suddenly, I hear from someone that she’s getting married which is why she can’t do our film. We had everything ready, from visas for the entire crew to locations. Now all that money is down the drain. My crew’s work permit visa is valid only for a limited period so I don’t know what to do now.”

Despite Lisa’s “strange demands” (of not lip syncing the songs) Abhishek had decided to go ahead with her as the female lead and this news of her backing out has left him with no choice but to sue her.

 “These people come from abroad and don’t understand how people put in effort, sweat and blood to make a film. We shouldn’t be entertaining people who don’t understand the value of money that a producer puts into a film. The contract was handed over to her team long ago but they kept delaying signing it because she had other plans. Her agency had stated multiple times in mails that she was doing our film; she had sent us her passport details for the London schedule as well. We had already locked dates of senior actors like Pareshji (Paresh Rawal) and Tanviji (Tanvi Azmi), my London crew had been booked. We’re taking legal action against Lisa. Her talent management agency should take responsibility for this mess,”

Lisa was supposed to star opposite Kartik Aaryan in the film where Tanvi Azmi and Paresh Rawal play the role of guests they will have to deal with.

A helpless Abhishek has now pushed the shoot by one week with the hope to “lock a new girl”. The film was originally scheduled to start its shoot from September 24.