But right now, its fate is uncertain. This delay has, reportedly, upset Deol, who did this film for free as a goodwill gesture towards Dr Dwivedi since he was committed to do Prithviraj Chauhan with him long ago but that project did not materialise.

A source close to the project revealed that there are irregularities in payments, too. A crew member told Mirror, "Producer Vinay Tiwari of Crossword Entertainment Pvt Ltd has not made complete payments to the crew even after a year.

Moreover, our payments have been reduced to 50 per cent and even the local production team of Banaras is waiting for their payment." Deol was promised that Mohalla Assi would release soon after his last superhit Yamla Pagla Deewana but again, that did not happen.

Though the film was shot in a 42-day schedule at Varanasi and Mumbai with a promotional song, shot recently in the holy city, the film is still lying in the cans with no release date in sight. When contacted, Dr Dwivedi chose to be diplomatic and refused to comment on the issue.

However, his chief assistant director Hemant Pandya confirmed the payment issue and said, "My payments are pending. I have been associated with Dr Dwivedi for more than 20 years.

This delay in payments is from the producer's side." When we contacted the producer Vinay Tiwari, he denied all allegations, saying, "There is no truth to such reports.

Dr Dwivedi is my friend and we have finished the film in an year, where else people take three years to complete a film. The post-production takes at least an year.

Probably, we will release the film in a few months." Sunny Deol remained unavailable for comment (less)