Mahima Chaudhry, who started her acting career with Subhash Ghai's Pardes co-starring Shah Rukh Khan in 1997, claimed in an interview that the filmmaker bullied her and also dragged her to the court. She further alleged that he told producers to not work with her. Reacting to this claim, Subhash, in a statement, said that he is 'amused reading the news' and mentioned that Mahima and he are very good friends. He went onto call her a nice and mature woman.

"I am amused reading this news. Mahima & I are very good friends till date and are still in touch through messages. She is a very nice and mature woman of today. She recently shared on how she gets welcomed at every event with a song from Pardes, ‘I love my India’, even after 23 years," Subhash said.

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Speaking of a conflict between them in 1997, Subhash said he did send a showcause notice and then cancelled her contract with his production house Mukta Arts. He further told that 3 years after the incident, Mahima apologised and they became friends once again. "Yes, there was a small conflict in 1997 post the release of Pardes, which became a big blockbuster and for which she even got the Filmfare Award for best actor. My company did send her a showcause notice for flouting a clause in our agreement. Media and industry reacted in a big way and so I withdrew and cancelled her contract with Mukta. After 3 years she came to me with her family and apologised for her impulsive reaction. I forgave her and thereafter we became friends again," Subhash told.

He continued saying, "She must be right in feeling that she was bullied when asked by someone. Actually I admire her great gesture when she did a guest appearance in a song in my last film Kanchi in 2015. I guess we do get entertained with the smallest of an old tiff which is normal in course of life in showbiz."

Mahima, in her interview, mentioned that only Salman Khan, Sanjay Dutt, David Dhawan and Rajkumar Santoshi stood by her. Recalling the time when she was replaced by Urmila Matondkar in Satya, the actress said director Ram Gopal Varma didn't call her to inform about the replacement and she got to know about the same via media. 

(Source: Mumbai Mirror)