In an official statement, Mini Films stated, “The claims made by Arushi Nishank are completely false and misleading. This is a civil dispute, and we are taking the necessary legal recourse to address the matter.
Further, Arushi Nishank approached us in Mumbai, persistently following up for a meeting with us, stating that she is the daughter of the ex-minister of Uttarakhand and wanted to tie up with us through her entity, Himshri Films, for our film. She claimed she could bring our film to Uttarakhand, as she had a strong political hold at Uttarakhand and could get many things done easily for us and for our film. However, we politely refused her, stating that we do not need any support as such as we were already progressing with our film. She later expressed her desire to become a heroine and requested to us for a small role in exchange of investing in the film, stating that investing in the film would help her achieve this. She claimed it would also position her as the face of Uttarakhand and boost her political career too. To persuade us, she highlighted her alleged strong ties with Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, mentioning to us how she had invited him to the set of her web series Life Hill Gayi and promised to do the same for our film.”
They added, “However, once she came on board, she began threatening and demanding a larger role as a parallel lead of the Film. While we were shooting in Dehradun, her husband, Abhinav Pant—who often tried to attract us with his astrological talks and frequently asked for our kundali—invited us to his construction site near Dehradun Airport, close to Thano Chowk. A car took us to a half constructed building, where he threatened us to give Arushi a parallel lead role in the film. Refusing to bow down to their pressure, we removed her from the film, terminating her involvement. The threats to defame were given to us if we did not meet their demands.”
