Brand Rang Rasiya disassociates itself from Sana Javed, stylist Aneela Murtaza issues a legal notice

The Sana Javed situation is heating up. Rang Rasiya, the brand she and model Manal Saleem were shooting for when the misbehaviour controversy started, has disassociated itself from her. According to a statement issued by the fashion label, they are "deeply disturbed" by the incident and have chosen to reshoot with another celebrity. Hours after their statement, stylist Aneela Murtaza issued a legal notice to Javed.

What actually went down

Javed has been accused of belittling models on set, holding makeup artists "hostage" and generally misbehaving with people. It all started when Saleem took to Instagram and shared her poor experience of working with "an actress" for a brand. The story was re-shared by makeup artist Omayr Waqar who did not name her, and Murtaza, who wrote only "Sana". Two makeup artists Ikram Gohar and Rhyan Thomas also came forward with their experiences and called her "unprofessional". Model Fareeha Sheikh also shared her experience of working with the actor who allegedly had issues with a shared location for a shoot.

Javed then took to Instagram on March 10 and shared photos of legal notices against three people — Saleem, Waqar and Murtaza.

She described it as a "proper smear campaign" in her Instagram post and said she was "subjected to all sorts of lies and fabricated stories, bullying, hate speech and threats". A few days later, Waqar took to Instagram and shared that he is also issuing a legal notice of his own to the Dunk star.

Makeup artist Wajid Khan recently wrote that Javed "should focus more on her acting rather than playing games with people". Syed Hussain, who happens to be the MUA who was hired to style Saleem and Javed for the Rang Rasiya shoot has corroborated the model's story.

Rang Rasiya's statement

Rang Rasiya shared a public statement on their business page that read, "In light of recent allegations brought forth against Sana Javed, we at Rang Rasiya decided to disassociate ourselves from the concerned person who was before the main face of our Eid campaign." They also confirmed that the recent incident involving both Saleem and Javed had occurred on their shoot for which the brand is "deeply disturbed" as well.

"We did a reshoot with another celebrity as we respect public sentiment, despite the cost that we have borne. It is a request to the fashion fraternity to please be considerate towards the brands too who spend millions on such shoots apart from their time and effort," concluded the statement.

Saleem had requested all of her clients not to ask her to shoot with "any actress/celebrity ever again" in her initial Instagram Story. "With their self entitled attitudes they think we are 'do takay ki [two bit] models'. The audacity to say that on my face! Hum bhi kam krne atay hain, muft main zaleel honay nahi atay [We come here to work, not to be insulted for free]," wrote the model. Her Instagram story has since expired but is available in highlights section of her Instagram account. She did not name the actor in question.

According to the statement shared by the brand, both Saleem and Javed's shoot for the brand will no longer be part of their Eid campaign.

Another legal notice for Javed

After Waqar, Murtaza too issued a legal notice of her own to Javed. The counter notice read that the contents of Javed's notice are entirely "concocted, unsubstantiated and fallacious." It also demands "strict proof" from the actor whose notice claims that Murtaza had "falsely accused" her through innuendos.

"It is imperative to state that our client [Murtaza] has at no point in time ever had any relationship of whatsoever nature with Ms. Manal Saleem, not of any sort of friendship nor as rivals you state to be colluded against you," read the notice. "To clarify further, our client has no nexus of whatsoever nature with Ms. Saleem. Moreover, it may be noted that no innuendo and/or insinuation of whatsoever nature was and/or has ever been made by our client. The fact that your client believes the 'innuendos' to be targeted towards her show nothing but a presumption of falseness."

The notice called Javed's notice an attempt to "seek publicity at the cost and expense of" Murtaza. It also denied that Murtaza ever made an oral/written statements about Javed and said neither were they posted on social media. "Please note that as per Section 3 of the Defamation Ordinance 2002, in order to constitute the legal wrong of defamation, you need to prove that the statements were made by our client about your client [Javed]," the post read.

Murtaza's legal notice denied the claims made by Javed in her notice as "false, vexatious and distorted". It also said that the allegations against Murtaza in the actor's documents is nothing but "stories of presumptions and mere attempts to gain publicity".

The documents conclude with a request to Javed to retract her captioned "malicious and malafide" legal notice within a period of seven days of the receipt of the notice by Murtaza.

So far, several celebrities have publicly defended Javed. Nadeem Baig, Fahad Mustafa, Sadia Faisal, Angeline Malik and cricketer Shoaib Malik penned supportive messages for the actor and described her as a "kind and courteous" person.