Actor Sonya Hussyn recently shared that she has sent her film Tich Button‘s producer Urwa Hocane a legal notice due to a “breach in the contract” whereby she was not paid her contractual dues for the project.
In the legal notice, the Azaadi star’s legal team addressed the matter by reminding Urwa that she “entered into contractual relations” with their client. “Under express terms and conditions”, she agreed to pay Sonya a certain amount upon completion of the shooting, which began on February 2, 2020, and ended on June 5, the same year.
The notice states that even though Sonya performed her part of the contract “in exceptional circumstances” such as the outbreak of Covid-19, she was not paid her due “despite repeated requests and reminders” accounting for a “breach in the contract”.
It noted that after quite some time, “in stark convention and blatant violation of contract”, the Meri Shehzadi diva “fraudulently” attempted to pay Hussyn Rs500,000.
Hussyn returned that cheque and “unequivocally refuses to be a prey of [Urwa’s] fraudulent scheme,” according to the notice. Sonya is demanding the payment agreed upon in the contract which is “still outstanding”.
Additionally, she demanded Rs5 million for “general damages” on account of “distress, dismay, mental torture, humiliation and embarrassment” within 14 days of the receipt of the notice for the “undesirable and unwanted circumstances” created by Urwa.
Upon failure to comply with this, Sonya instructed her legal team to “institute civil and criminal legal provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860 for criminal breach of trust, cheating, fraud, and misrepresentation” and file a civil suit in court and seek recovery of payment, general damages and attachment of Urwa’s immoveable and moveable assets.
Urwa’s Response
Urwa has now addressed the matter in an interview “I am not aware that Sonya Hussyn has sent any notice to me, I mean I am just a call away, we have been shooting the film for so long which a lot of things might happen. We should speak to each other and find out, I am sure there should be some misunderstanding, we all are mature enough and can resolve issues, why sabotage a project like this? I am also worried about such a notice, it’s not like that, she’s been a team, and I know the process has become longer but we understand and will address this misunderstanding, maybe Sonya Hussyn would have called me.”
Farhan Saeed’s Reaction
While opening up about the absence of his co-stars Sonya Hussyn and Feroze Khan from the film’s promotions, Farhan Saeed said, “they are an integral part of the film, at the trailer launch, Sonya didn’t appear because she was a Toronto for awards, Feroze Khan was absent from promotions because he was in Saudi Arabia for the Umrah, I even said to Qasim, ‘we should ask Feroze to pray for film’s success, I wish they join us in in future promotion but they worked beautifully.”
Farhan retorted, “Maliha, problems are in every project. I can’t agree with the thing that a project doesn’t have any problem let me tell you every project has issues, especially in films, however, I would say that you should own the project wholeheartedly. If you ask me, there are zero regrets and hard feelings, every one has his own career choices and graphs.
Sonya’s Statement
In a recent interview with Hasan Choudary, she discussed her dispute with the Tich Button’s makers.
Talking about it Sonya said, “I think, everyone knows now why I’m missing from promotions of Tich Button, the thing is out already, the public knows why I’m not seen, payment dispute was the main issue, also, sometimes, your chemistry and vibe don’t match with some people and that’s why I’m distant.”
She further added, “I took Urwa’s name because Urwa was the only producer who approached me, she was the main face behind it, she was the one who signed the contract with me, that’s why I sent her a notice, I addressed Urwa specifically because I had a contract with her. I talked to all producers before sending the notice, it was last option to approach legally. However, on Ahsan’s show, I mistakenly said something but he created it a big thing.”
