E-Paper
Rakhi’s tailor-made controversy
Sawant rubbishes designer Pooja Shukla’s allegations of defaulting payment; says she never received the dresses.
Rakhi Sawant is no stranger to controversies. And usually, she doesn’t seem to mind them, given the publicity she manages to extract from them. This one, however, we reckon, she’d rather have avoided.
A relatively unknown designer called Pooja Shukla recently alleged that Rakhi has refused to pay her Rs. 1.2 lakh for 40 dresses that she created for the starlet. Reportedly, she even filed a police complaint after Rakhi apparently abused her over phone.
Now, Rakhi lashes back, rubbishing the designer’s claims and alleging in turn that the said dresses never came to her. “First of all, it’s not 40 dresses, but 22 dresses that I had ordered, and which I didn’t receive despite chasing her for over three months. I also gave her cloth material worth Rs. 2.5 lakh. I bought it on my credit card, so I have a record. I have submitted these documents at the Oshiwara Police station,” says Rakhi.
Pooja apparently told Rakhi that she has worked under celebrated Bollywood designer Manish Malhotra. “This was hard to believe, but I trusted her. I wanted to shed my bold image; I wanted to wear salwar kameez to create a positive impression, so that people wouldn’t offer me only item numbers,” says Rakhi.
Rakhi adds that she made interim payments: “I paid her Rs. 40,000 as making charge, and then, when she said her tailors are
charging more, I paid her another Rs. 50,000.”
The starlet says she even lost out on projects because of this: “As I didn’t have the dresses, I couldn't commit to a couple of projects. Later, I was sent a pack of cloths torn into pieces. That’s when I threatened that I will lodge a police complaint,” she says.
