Kasaba movie fame actress Neha Saxena has been allegedly physically assaulted on the sets of a Tamil movie, helmed by a Malayali filmmaker. The actress who joined the sets of the movie on August 20, says that she was tricked by the director, who promised that actors such as Prakash Raj and Nasser were part of the cast. On reaching the set, the actress felt the location to be unsafe and she was not comfortable with the team since the first day of the shoot as there were odd activities going on. She also realized that neither of the veteran actors was part of the cast.

I spoke with the director and expressed that I am not comfortable working in that atmosphere. The script wasn’t satisfactory, as I had already said no to some ‘unwanted’ intimate scenes and the way my character was getting shaped wasn’t passable. The director started to scare me, told me that the producer has connections with the mafias and they have a torture room in the casino they own, where they can get me tortured, raped, or even shoot me down. I even told him that I am willing to give back the advance.” said Neha in an interview with TOI. Following the director's request to not leave as it would leave the movie get stalled, she decided to stay.

On September 19, when Neha and her assistants went to the hotel, where their accommodation was arranged, the hotel owner approached the actress to spend a night with him and his influential friends. That was when I lost it. How dare would they ask that to me? I told him he was asking the wrong person and upon reaching my room, I informed the director. Instead of confronting the owner, the director told me that even though he quizzed the owner, the latter would deny it, and it would affect the whole cast and crew as they wanted the hotel for another 10 days, said Neha in the interview. Following the incident, the actress was receiving blank calls and random people would knock on her door at midnight. Neha says, The fear was building, and adding fuel to the fire, director would say that they got a certain actor on a gunpoint for this project, and warn me that the producer is capable of many other things due to his ‘influence’. I was shaken.

The actress also narrated a cold-blooded incident when the director's son, who plays the lead role in the movie, strangled her by her neck and threw her off the stairs while filming a scene. The actress injured her tail bone and thighs. While we were nearing the completion, I was shooting for a particular scene with the director’s son, who is the lead actor, where he had to hold me by my neck, and another artist would enter and do an open fire. But instead, the director’s son strangled my neck and threw me off the stairs. Due to the incident, I had bruises on my tail bone and thighs. It wasn’t an accident at all. The director’s son was upset with me as I reported those odd activities on the sets. The director apologized, said in another two days my portions would be over and I could go. A Bollywood actor too joined the cast during this time and I didn’t want to look unprofessional or mess up the whole movie, says Neha.

After the entire filming was done, the director denied paying her any remuneration. In an interesting turn of events, one of the producers came to meet her after the last day of the shoot. While the actress was petrified to meet him, due to the threatening stories that the director shared, the producer actually met her to enquire about the problem.

Director was cooking up stories to control me. This was the first time I was interacting with the producers and all that while I was thinking they were behind everything. He assured me to solve the problems, however, a few minutes later, I was asked to come down to the lobby. The director was there with the producer and a few other people. Director also said that my payment was settled and I was lying about it. I was traumatized by all that had happened, the director scarred me for life and above all, he was accusing me as a liar. I told the producer that I don't want the payment, I will just think I have done a charity. I got into the lift and all of them followed me into the lift, however, the director pulled me out of the lift and forced me to sit in the lobby, says Neha.

The director snatched off her phone and while she rushed to her room along with her assistants, the director threatened them and tried to manhandle them. I asked the director what all this hungama was and he started threatening my assistant in front of me and called me a prostitute. He also said that he has a licensed gun and he would shoot me right then. The director also told me that he had arranged for his boys to break my costume assistant’s bones if he asks for payment. A few other incidents, involving the team breaking the locks of the costume boxes and securing them with their own locks took place and I had copied all those CCTV footage for proof but the receptionist called me and asked me to delete the footage and leave ASAP as the owner would come looking for me,” says Neha, who then managed to flee away from the hotel, with the help of a friend and she later lodged a complaint at the central Bangalore police station. She also submitted all the proof, following which the director, producer, and the team were summoned. With the police intervention, she received her payment and also an apology letter from the team. Though the issue has been solved the actress says that she is yet to come out of the trauma.

Actress Neha Saxena ventured into the fashion industry in 2011 and it was recently she completed a decade in showbiz. The actress has shared screen space with Mohanlal in 'Munthirivallikal Thalirkumbol' and Mammootty in 'Kasaba'. She will next be seen in the Mohanlal starrer movie Ram.