Lucknow, Sept. 12: Film director Vinod Chhabra, just out of a controversy over full frontal nudity in his film Shaque, is caught in a fresh row over a tax-free certificate from the Uttar Pradesh government.

Chhabra alleged that state government officers and some ?middlemen? were harassing him in the process of granting a tax-free certificate for his film. The director was in Lucknow yesterday to meet distributors and government officers in connection with the film?s release.

The film was delayed by a court battle over the censor board?s objections over bare-all scenes in the movie and is now ready for release. But Chhabra is now fighting for the tax-free certificate promised by the state government. He has threatened to sue the state government and has accused it of advocating a policy without being able to implementing it.

Shaque, a mystery thriller, had been shot primarily in Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal. According to the Uttar Pradesh government?s policy, if 75 per cent of a film is shot in the state, a film having a budget of Rs 1 crore will get a subsidy of Rs 20 lakh and a tax-free certificate.

?The movie is scheduled for release on October 1 this year but I am facing an embarrassing delay over issue of tax free certificate. I am being subjected to strange questions. When I say that I have shot a scene on a street of Lucknow, some bureaucrats ask: ?Where are the names of the streets in the film??? Chhabra said. He had shown a certificate from the respective district magistrates confirming that his crew had worked there, but it failed to convince the officers concerned.