Now, one can so trust the Tollywood producers to give a tough time to their heroines. Though on public forums they constantly claim that there is a dearth of good girls in the industry, the way they treat their heroines is keeping away many girls from working in the Telugu industry.

Okay, let us cut this thread short and keep this story for another day. But the latest incident where a heroine has cried foul about being denied part of her remuneration has happened with Balakrishna’s upcoming film Lion.

So, the story is that the theatre artiste turned heroine Radhika Apte who plays one of the female leads in the movie hasn’t been a few lakhs from her remuneration.

Of course, not many are surprised as such incidents are pretty common in Tollywood. But the way in which Radhika was cheated by the film’s producer Ramana Rao has surely become the talk of the industry.

Apparently, on the last of shoot, Radhika was told that her dues would be settled and she was told to leave to the airport.

It is said that she was also shown a bag full of money and promised that the payment would be made that day. However, once she reached the airport and tried contacting Ramana Rao, he became inaccessible for two hours.

Meanwhile, Radhika flew back to Mumbai and when she finally got in touch with the producer, she was told that the money was withheld to make sure that she took part in the promotional activities of the film.

However, it is arm-twisting of a different sort as Radhika is not obliged to be a part of the promotional activity as per contract.

Also, she will start shooting for an English film in April and the producer was well aware of this even before Radhika shot for Lion.

Naturally, a miffed Radhika took the matter to the notice of Balayya, who happens to be very particular about his films as he does not like controversies.

Incidentally, Radhika is doing her second film with Balayya. In the past, they had worked together for Legend. A visibly upset Balakrishna is said to have told Radhika to be patient for a few days before he can resolve the matter.

While some sources say that producer Ramana Rao had diverted the money due to Radhika to another artiste, few others say that the issue might go to court.