Sunny Deol
Sunny Deol at Singh Saab The Great music launchVarinder Chawla

Sunny Deol's upcoming movie "Ghayal Once Again" (previously titled "Ghayal Returns") has reportedly forced the actor to mortgage his dubbing and recording studio -- Sunny Super Sound.

According to The Times of India, the latest delay in the film's release date was due to lack of finance and the actor has mortgaged his property to meet the monetary needs of the project.

"Ghayal Once Again" was supposed to hit screens on 15 January, but the release date was pushed to 5 February. While it was reported that Sunny had decided to postpone the film's release to have some more time for the movie's promotional activities, the latest report said that it is the monetary crunch that influenced the decision.

"The studio is Sunny's dream and he spent a huge amount of money to redo the entire place, including installing new systems in keeping with the modern technology. However, financial issues kept mounting while he was making 'Ghayal' sequel. He was in debt and had to repay a huge amount of money that he had borrowed from his financiers. So he mortgaged his studio to repay some of his debts. Once the film releases, he will be in a position to clear a few of the outstandings and reverse the mortgage," TOI quoted a source as saying.

However, Deol's manager Sunil Saini has denied the buzz and said that there is no dearth in finance. "There's no truth to these reports. This is Sunny sir's most ambitious project and we have regular financing. There's no question of mortgage or anything like that. We certainly don't need any negativity around our project," he said.

This is not the first time that the release date of "Ghayal Once Again" has been postponed. The action-drama was supposed to be released along with Salman Khan's "Prem Ratan Dhan Payo" in the month of November last year, but was pushed back to 15 January. Directed by the Deol himself, "Ghayal Once Again" is a sequel to the actor's hit movie "Ghayal" (1990). The film also features Soha Ali Khan, Om Puri, and four new-comers.