Thaindian News

By Joginder Tuteja
Mumbai, Sep 4 (IANS) Just two days ago, filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt was going all out to help Pakistani actress Meera who had apparently received death threats from a man in Lahore claiming to be her husband. But now it appears to him a case of Meera’s past catching up with her.

“Yes, Meera did call from Lahore. Some guy claiming to be her husband tried to break into her home and kill her! At that time she seemed quite genuine in her call for help. Meanwhile Salman Taseer, the Governor of Punjab, was very prompt in taking action, but Meera was still inconsolable,” Bhatt told IANS.

However, the situation turned out to be quite different. Reports started making the rounds that the man in question was indeed Meera’s husband and had papers and photographs to back his statement. Apparently, he tried to reach Meera, but her guards prevented him from entering her house.

“While I was trying to call people in Pakistan and take stock of the issue, I was informed by Sohail Khan, filmmaker from Pakistan, that news channels all over the country were beaming photographs of the couple as well as their ‘nikaahnama’ (marriage contract). This seemed to be substantial evidence that made me call up Meera again,” said Bhatt.

Through the conversation that followed, “I realised that the situation wasn’t as clean as it sounded earlier”, Bhatt said. “Also, I could sense that Meera too wasn’t as truthful as she wanted me to believe.

“She, in fact, did admit that the two of them were in a relationship, but denied her marriage to him. She said that she would get back to me later, but that never happened.”

It was Mahesh Bhatt, who along with Mukesh Bhatt had launched Meera as an actor in Bollywood with “Nazar” (2005), which was directed by Soni Razdan. Meera was paired opposite Ashmit Patel in the film that had failed at the box office.

This is not the first time that Meera has reached out to Bhatt for help.

Last year she had landed up at Bhatt’s house at around 2 a.m. after being troubled by a guy. At that time she was living in Mumbai and didn’t have anyone else to help her.

Bhatt had then asked Sevy Ali, who had produced “Nazar”, to help out Meera. But she was miffed with him because he refused to shelter her.

So what was it about Bhatt that made Meera call him again in her moment of distress?

“Well, I do have contacts in Pakistan and know people in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. She felt that I could make a few calls and get help coming her way. I was in fact in the process of doing so as well. I know the Human Rights Commission and other organisations there and could have done all in my capacity.

“However, as things stand today, both Meera as well as the man in question has filed a case against each other. It’s all boiling down to some property dispute between the two of them. I had warned Meera that her past would one day catch up with her. She is now bearing the brunt of it.”