Mumbai: Bollywood actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s wife Aaliya Siddiqui has landed in legal trouble over her debut film ‘Holy Cow’.
A police complaint has been filed against Aaliya – who donned the producer’s hat for the satirical film announced in 2019 – by Holy Cow’s creative head and co-producer Manju Garhwal for alleged financial fraud.
Manju, who has claimed that Aaliya owes her Rs 31 lakh, alleged that Nawazuddin’s wife refused to pay her despite repeated reminders. Her complaint also alleges mental harassment.
A separate complaint has been filed with Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE).
“Aaliya and I have been friends since 2005 and she wanted to be a producer for a really long time. When things finally shaped up, she told me to take charge of the creative side while she decided to manage the finances. I roped in actors and cast for the project, but the money paid to them through cheques soon started bouncing,” Manju told Etimes.
She said that even her father invested money on Aaliya’s request.
“My father was selling off his home in Ujjain and Aaliya was aware of the deal. Since she needed finances, she convinced my father to give her the money from property sale and she would return it in a month’s time. However, that didn’t happen,” Manju claimed.
After the duo had a fallout, Aaliya refused to credit her.
Manju further said that Aaliya had made a payment of Rs 22 lakh to recover a hard disk from her that contained the film’s data. She has demanded Aaliya return her the pending Rs 31 lakh and credit her for the film.
Aaliya has not commented on Manju’s allegations against her.
Holy Cow, scheduled to release later this year, is being directed by Sai Kabir, and features Nawazuddin, Sanjay Mishra and Tigmanshu Dhulia among others.
Aaliya, who served a legal notice in 2020 seeking to end her marriage with Nawaz, withdrew the notice a year later after observing a change in the latter’s behaviour.
