Film director Subhash Ghai has sued Mahima Chowdhary who debuted in his last year's blockbuster Pardes, for breach of contract. Ghai is seeking Rs 25 lakh in damages. In addition, he has sought an injunction from the Bombay High Court seeking to restrain the actress from travelling abroad for shows and acting in another producer's film without his prior permission.

Vacation court judge, Justice Rebello on Monday denied Ghai's application seeking to stop her from going abroad for shows.

``The notice came as a bolt from the blue,'' says Mahima who had as recently as the Lux-Zee Cine awards last month, proclaimed her gratitude to Ghai for giving her a break in films. ``I immediately called up his residence to talk to him but he slammed down the phone on me aftertelling me that he would now only see me in court,'' she added.

Subhash Ghai was in Chennai, and unavailable for comment. But an executive of Mukta Arts, Parvez, said that Ghai had decided to sue Mahima because she had ``not sought permission from him to go for film shows to the UK, the USA and Canada along with Salman Khan, Karisma Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt.'' And just last Friday his company Mukta Arts issued advertisements in a film trade journal, Trade Guide, urging producers and directors to refrain from signing Mahima without his permission as it would be a breach of contract and warning whosoever signed her with legal action.

``I did sign a five-year contract with Mr Ghai but soon after Pardes was released we decided mutually to render it null and void. Anyway, Mr Ghai told me that it was a formality, just to ensure that Pardes did not get bogged,'' says Mahima. Among the more pertinent clauses in the contract were conditions that Mahima would not marry for five years, that she would not sign a filmwith an outside producer without prior permission from Subhash Ghai, that she would give 35 per cent of her earnings from outside assignments to Mukta Arts and that Mukta Arts would sign her on for their next three productions after Pardes.

Now Mahima alleges that Ghai himself did not stick to the contract. ``He has signed Aishwarya Rai for his next film, Taal instead of me. But I never said anything. Moreover, since August '97 I have signed six films, have modelled, appeared for interviews without seeking his permission. He also knew that I would be going for these shows at least five months back. So how is it that he did not object earlier?'' Mahima says that she will be leaving for the shows on April 9 as per schedule. As for as the messy legal battle ahead, Mahima says even though she wishes to sort out the problem amicably if ``Mr Ghai insists, I'll also see him in court.''