Bollywood actor Salman Khan's much anticipated film "Mental" is now in troubled waters following a conflict between the production team and stuntmen from the south over difference in opinion.

The Lavasa shoot of the Sohail Khan-directed film lost several crores as the shooting was stalled for 12 days.

The bone of contention in the matter was the southern artistes demanding an equal pay like that of their B-town counterparts and also complained of their presence being sidelined with only about 30 percent of them coming from the South film industry

The stuntmen went on to register their complaint at Film Employees' Federation of South India (FEFSI), but when it failed to help they stalled the shoot and moved back to Chennai.

Seeking to put an end to the conflict, Salman and his brother Sohail have decided to drop all the south fighters from the project as whole.

"Salman bhai is disturbed with the South fighters abandoning the schedule of the big budget film mid-way. And so he has decided not to work with them," a source told the Bollywood Life website.

Supporting Salman's decision, FWICE (Federation of Western India Cine Employees) President Dharmesh Tiwari stated, "As per the All India Film Employees Confederation (AIFEC), 70 per cent of the fighters have to be local (in this case from the Hindi film industry) and 30 per cent from the region of the fight master (the south in this case). The demand by the southern fighters for 50 per cent representation is unreasonable and just not acceptable. They have to adhere to the rules. I had a meeting with Sohail sometime ago, and I don't think Salman's decision is wrong."

"Mental", a remake of Telugu film "Stalin", also stars Daisy Shah and Sana Khan in the female leads. The film is set to release on 25 December.