Harnaaz Sandhu denies all charges levelled by Upasana Singh in contract breach case

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Chandigarh, March 3

Miss Universe Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu has denied all charges levelled by Upasana Singh, “Bua” of Kapil Sharma’s Comedy Show, in a civil suit against her for allegedly breaching a contract.

The suit was filed last year for claiming damages of Rs 1 crore from Harnaaz for non-performance of her obligations as per the terms of agreement between them.

Upasana claimed that she had signed Harnaaz as a lead artiste under her banner Santosh Entertainment Studio LLP in 2020 to produce a Punjabi feature film, “Bai Ji Kuttange”.

She alleged that after winning Miss Universe-2021 contest, Harnaaz refused to do promotional activities of the film, which was specifically agreed between them under a contract signed on December 13, 2020. As a result, the film lost its distributors, its release date was compromised and ultimately, the release date was postponed from May 27, 2022, to August 19, 2022.

Filing the reply in court through advocate Dr Dayal Partap Singh Randhawa, Harnaaz said Upasana concealed many facts from the court.

Harnaaz said she was excited about her debut film and was in constant touch with all lead members who worked for the film. She alleged that the alleged agreement, on the very face of it, was vague, misleading and fraudulent, and a result of the ‘vindictive’ mind of the plaintiff and her firm. No exact time period for the alleged term of engagement was mentioned in the pact. She claimed that she never violated any term as she never gave any date to any producer or filmmaker nor did any shooting of any other feature film or television serial during the alleged engagement period.

The suit was nothing rather an attempt to defame her, she alleged.

She said the plaintiff herself admitted that after winning the Miss Universe Pageant, during the interaction with the media outside Golden Temple, Amritsar, she promoted the film and looked forward to its successful release. She also alleged that Upasana Singh falsely claimed that the alleged agreement was made at Chandigarh, while it was shown to be executed at Delhi. Hence, the plaintiff misguided the court, concealing the material fact as to the subject of ‘territorial jurisdiction’.

She said the plaintiff was nowhere authorised to use the Trademark ‘Miss Universe’. Randhawa said though plaintiff was claiming damages of Rs 1 crore from Harnaaz, no such ad valorem court fee was paid.

Harnaaz prayed to the court to reject and dismiss the suit filed by Upasana with cost in the interest of justice and equity. Randhawa said the suit suffered from legal defects.