Director Khan denies slating Padukone

Sajid Khan has claimed that he did not deliberately mean to slate Deepika Padukone, who is reportedly upset over his comments.

The Housefull director filmed a programme to promote his new movie where the cast jokingly criticised each other. Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta, and Riteish Deshmukh were present during the incident.

"It was an April Fool special. Everyone was told about it. We were all having fun and doing masti. I told Deepika on the phone about it," Khan told Mid Day.

"It was all impromptu. Nobody in the unit dislikes Deepika. I think she's one of the best actresses I have worked with. She finished her dubbing in record time. When you see the film, you will find her a revelation."

Reports have said that Padukone is less than impressed with the comments made about her.

"Everyone was poking fun at each other. But Deepika soon became the butt of most jokes with several coming from Sajid," a source revealed.

"When Lara passed a remark about Dippy, the director said, 'Don't bitch about her or she won't promote my film'. When the question was raised about which of the girls looked best in a bikini, all of them said Jiah or Lara and Padukone was sidelined.

"The Housefull gang called Deepika 'diplomatic' and 'goody-goody'. At one point, when the heroes ragged Sajid about being harsh with Dippy during a shoot, the director shot back that he had to as he didn't want to waste excessive film on her retakes."

However, Padukone claimed that she had not heard the remarks, saying: "I knew the team was doing a show, but I wasn't aware about its exact nature. I can't comment on it as I don't know what was said but if they did make fun of me I am cool with it. I know all of them to be pranksters and they must not have meant what they said. It shouldn't be blown out of proportion."