Crucial sequence in his upcoming film called off over a spat between action men from Hyderabad and Mumbai Salman Khan's shoot of Mental in Lavasa came to a screeching halt over simmering tension between action artistes from Mumbai and Hyderabad. The spat is over allegations that the production team is biased towards Bollywood performers. Trouble erupted over the weekend when 30 fighters from Hyderabad and Chennai were called in for an action sequence. Even as the crew prepared for the shoot, the group from the south realised that they were inadequately represented in comparison to their Mumbai peers.

It emerged that there were only three Southern fighters for every seven from Bollywood. Even as they brought this to the notice of Salman and Sohail, it was made clear that no changes would be made to the ratio. The disgruntled fighters, some of whom had worked in the original film, Stalin, featuring Chiranjeevi, called up FWICE (Federation of Western India Cine Employees) officials in Mumbai, but only to be told that their argument held no water. Sounding a defiant note, a senior FWICE official, on condition of anonymity told TOI, "When they shoot Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam or Kannada films in Mumbai, we ensure there are more representatives from the South in every department.

Their demand for equal representation is unjustified." The fighters from the South also discovered that were being paid 50 per cent less than their Mumbai counterparts. Consequentially, they dug in their heels, and refused to participate in the shoot, despite repeated entreaties from Salman and Sohail. According to a source from the film unit: "The entire sequence has come to a standstill over this imbroglio." Two senior officials -Shiva and Vijayan - from the Film Employee's Federation of South India, are in Mumbai to end the impasse. The FWICE official added: "With neither of the parties willing to budge, this has become a rather sensitive matter. "