WASHINGTON: Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions has been slapped with a $150,000 lawsuit in Philadelphia for allegedly failing to pay hundreds of local actors and vendors for a movie filmed in the state last autumn.

The lawsuit cites breach of contract by Dharma Productions and its partner Swish Films of Melbourne for the production of its thriller Jihaad or KP-15; the Philadelphia Daily News reported citing court documents. It also requests a restraining order that would prevent representatives of Dharma — which changed its name to Karma Films while it continued to shoot Jihaad in New York City last month — from leaving the US with its assets, primarily the footage already shot. The filmed scenes are the only assets under US jurisdiction and thus would “preserve the status quo and restore the parties to the last peaceful, uncontested status which preceded the controversy”, the daily said in an online report.