Muzammil Ibrahim Alleges Abuse by Pooja Bhatt on Dhokha Set

In a new interview with Indian YouTuber Siddharth Kannan, actor Muzammil Ibrahim, who played the lead role in Pooja Bhatt’s ‘Dhokha’, alleged that her behaviour on the film set gave him ‘nightmares’.

“I was called unprofessional during that time by Pooja Bhatt. She had a temperament, an attitude which was very disrespectful for actors,” he said. “[Mahesh] Bhatt saab used to like me a lot because I was a good actor. I was just a kid that time, around 20, and the way I was treated on that set I cannot even begin to say… it was so heinous.”

“She used to verbally abuse a lot,” Ibrahim claimed further, adding that he also turned down the opportunity to sign ‘Raaz 2’, due to Bhatt’s behaviour.

“Alia Bhatt is not even half as talented nor has looks like Pooja Bhatt.”

“I was so scared, I was a nightmare. I was a supermodel in India, respected in a very different way, and the way I was treated there… Mahesh Bhatt saab saw what was happening and tried to tell her not to do that as well. But it escalated when Bhatt saab was not on set,” he explained.

“I used to hear such stories on set where Pooja said that actors should be like dogs and should sit when told. I come from a small family, and I was so scared, the articles that were written to sabotage me… I did not want to attach myself to that situation. I used to have nightmares and used to pray that I would survive the whole day. I went through a lot of depression,” the actor concluded.

Notably, Bhatt’s directorial action thriller ‘Dhokha’, co-starring Ibrahim with Tulip Joshi, Anupam Kher, Gulshan Grover and Ashutosh Rana, opened to positive reviews from critics in 2007, with praise mostly directed towards the lead actor’s performance.