Mumbai, Feb 8 (IANS) Accusations by television actor Pulkit Samrat, who plays Lakshya in the popular soap 'Kyunkii Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi', that Ekta Kapoor had 'underpaid and under-utilised' him, have stunned the TV tycoon and her team.

Pulkit has filed a petition in the Bombay High Court against Balaji Telefilms Limited for non-payment and also for a contract that restricted him from working with any other production house for three years. And he claims that he has won the case.

'I must say Pulkit's allegations have stunned me. I'll be damned if I let Pulkit get away with these lies about my company and me. I gave him a break in my most popular serial and now he makes me sound like a tyrant,' an upset Ekta told IANS.

'Pulkit seems to have misconstrued what the honourable judiciary has upheld. I won't like to say anything on the legal aspect of the matter because lawyers are handling it. My lawyers know exactly what the court said, and it is not what Pulkit is making it out to be,' Ekta said.

'The truth is, after evading our schedules for 'Kyunkii...' for months apparently due to a bad back, he was busy clubbing the night away. We let other actors like Mauni, Prachi, Jai and Karan Patel work outside our company. Why would we stop Pulkit? Our production managers have been in tears because of Pulkit's troublesome ways. My creative director (Nivedita Basu) will tell you what we've gone through,' she added.

Nivedita is far more forthright and says Pulkit is more interested in entering films than a serial with Balaji.

'Post-June he wanted to get into films and was constantly telling us of his plans. We were okay by it. Several of our actors are doing other stuff, including cinema and reality TV. We always accommodate our actors' other activities outside our company,' Nivedita said.

Nivedita also says that he took a break when his track was at its peak in the serial.

'He returned to claim that he had a back problem. We'd get just three-four hours per day. And now he claims we weren't using his talent in our show. Actors just have to come to us and tell us. We're happy to accommodate them in other shows. Pulkit could've been accommodated in as many shows as he wanted,' Nivedita said.

'Hiten Tejwani shoots for 16 hours in two shows. But we were always given the impression that Pulkit couldn't shoot for more than a few hours because of health reasons. It comes as a shock to me to know he felt under-used at Balaji.Not once did he let us know he felt that way. All he needed to do was tell us what his problem was. We could've put him in as many shows as he wanted,' Nivedita added.

According to reports, Ekta will sue the newspaper, Mumbai Mirror, for publishing the misleading report, which suggested that Pulkit has won the case.