Soham Shah cheated by men posing as producers

The director was tricked into coming to Uttar Pradesh, was ambushed, robbed and then deserted on a highway

Reel life imitated real life for Soham Shah and his assistant in Uttar Pradesh recently. The Kaal director had been in talks for a while with some producers who wanted him to call the shots for their project.

Filmi stuff

But the meeting that was supposed to ink the deal with him turned out to be a horror for Soham, who's also currently directing the Sanjay Dutt-Imran Khan-Shruti Haasan starrer Luck for Ashtavinayak. Soham was asked to get off from a car on a deserted highway in the middle of the night. How he managed to find his way back is the stuff his film's heroes would do on screen!

An industry source reveals, "It was a nightmare for Soham. Never for a moment did he anticipate that the people he was dealing with, were of dubious character. He had been interacting with them and the initial paperwork with him had been done. There was no room for any doubt at any stage as they appeared very professional."

It is learnt that for the final meeting, Soham was asked to fly down to UP along with his assistant. The producers sent air tickets for both of them. They requested that Soham carry Rs 1.5 lakh with him as they wanted the key members of the project to pool in the initial amount as a shagun.

Highway horror

Adds the source, "Soham and his assistant were picked up from the airport and taken to a hotel for a meal. On the way back, however, the producers had a different plan. They drove off several kilometers on to a deserted UP highway, took the Rs 1.5 lakh that he was carrying along with his cell phone and that of his assistant and told them to get off from the car. They then sped off leaving Soham and his assistant helpless on the highway."
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Kabhi yeh, kabhi woh

Soham is currently on a location hunt for Luck in Bangkok and is expected to return to Mumbai by Friday. When asked about the incident, Soham initially states that as a police complaint has been filed, he cannot talk about it till the racket was busted and the culprits taken to task.
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When prodded further, Soham changes tracks, "I had heard that some other filmmakers and ad filmmakers had bad experiences with them. I never travelled to UP."

Later, however, Soham admits he had received a call from a person who claimed to be from the Railway Ministry who wanted a documentary to be made. "I had told them to send me an e-mail," he says. "But they never did and I got busy with Luck."