#MeToo Movement: 10 Bollywood celebrities accused of sexual harassment so far!

After Tanushree Dutta fearlessly spoke about Nana Patekar trying to sexually harass her on the sets of Hork Ok Pleassss back in 2008, all the women, who were victimized and traumatized for years and years but had no choice but to keep mum, also came out and slammed the perpetrators. This led to the beginning of the #MeToo Movement in the Hindi Film industry. The names that have been called out include some of the most influential and respected members of the fraternity. A lot of the matters are now Sub Judice, but we applaud the courage and the fearlessness with which everyone has shared their horrifying stories. Here are the 10 people who have been named, shamed and called out:-

1. Nana Patekar

When Tanushree Dutta named Nana Patekar in the sexual harassment case, the industry was shaken and shocked. The actress stated that during the song rehearsals of their film Horn Ok Pleassss, the veteran actor tried to touch her in an insolent manner and made her uncomfortable. He forced the director to be included in the song which was supposed to be a solo dance number. Although Nana has denied the allegations and filed a case against the actress, the video that has gone viral on the Internet, where her car is being thrashed by the MNS goons called by the actor, it seems it’s Dutta who’s speaking the truth.

2. Vivek Agnihotri

Again, it was Tanushree who was the victim of this filmmaker’s lech and voyeurism. During the shooting of their film Chocolate, Dutta was left in a state of embarrassment and gasp. She said in an interview recently, “I was wearing a towel on my costume and standing behind the camera. This guy (Vivek Agnihotri) wanted me to give cues to an actor (Irrfan). It was an actor’s close-up. It was not even my shot. I was not even going to be in the shot. It was the actor’s close-up and he had to just look at something and give expressions. This director, he told me, ‘Jao jaake kapde utaar ke naacho, usko cues do. It was his close-up shot. I’m not in the frame. He had to look at me and give some expressions. Why do I have to dance in front of him for him to give expressions in his close-up shot? This director tells me ‘jao jaake kapde utaar ke naacho’. I was shocked!”

As expected, Agnihotri too, denied the allegations and all the charges and counter-attacked with a legal notice to the actress. But given the meticulousness with which she narrated the entire incident, again it seems to be the truth.

3. Rajat Kapoor

Rajat Kapoor has been accused by not one or two but three women of misconduct, sexual harassment and crossing the lines of decency. A journalist by the name of Sandhya Menon shared screenshots of messages she received from multiple women, where Kapoor could be seen sending lewd and filthy messages. Have a look right here:-

More about Rajat Kapoor. pic.twitter.com/EkerCEuYBi

— Sandhya Menon (@TheRestlessQuil) October 9, 2018

One of the victims was Katherine Filaseta, a US-based actor-filmmaker. This is what she revealed in her statement:-

The night before, after I had already given my contact info to him, we both were drinking, and he kept coming up to me and touching me inappropriately. I kept pulling away and running to people I knew I trusted already, or pushing his hand away, and it kept happening. Over the next 24 hour period starting the next morning, he called me throughout the day from an unknown number (which i never answer), and I found out it was him because he forcibly pulled me away from my job at the festival we were at that night to curse me out for not answering his calls.

I was young. This was in 2013 in NYC and I was 22 or 23 years old. He was twice my age, which made things more uncomfortable and made his anger more threatening. I was young and naive and trying to be an actress at the time, so I felt put in a very awkward position of not wanting to lose this professional connection but also not wanting any of what was happening to happen, so felt pressured to be polite even though I felt I wanted to tell him to f*ck off.

I would be lying if I said this experience didn’t have an impact on my decision to stop pursuing acting. I still work in film, but the reason I stopped pursuing acting was because I felt that I didn’t have it in me to be polite and complicit when men treated me that way, and that as an actress, directors would treat me that way all the time, so I started pursuing other tracks of film pretty much immediately after this knowing that I couldn’t be polite in situations like that anymore.

She even took to her Twitter account and said:-

are we finally #metoo-ing Bollywood bc like I gave my business card out to a director thinking I was making a professional connection and then got called 17 times the next day and then confronted irl and cursed out for not answering the married creep’s calls coughrajatkapoorcough

— katherine (@kay_fil) October 7, 2018

Seeing the allegations pile up, Kapoor took to his Twitter account to issue an apology. Have a look:-

All my life I have tried to be a decent man, to do the right thing.
If however, I have slipped and through my actions or words
caused pain or hurt or trauma to absolutely anybody, please accept my
apology.

— Rajat Kapoor (@mrrajatkapoor) October 7, 2018

I am sorry from the bottom of my heart- and sad that I was the cause of this hurt
to another human being.

If there is one thing more important to me than even my work,
it is to be a good human being.
And I have tried to be that person.
And now, I will try harder.

— Rajat Kapoor (@mrrajatkapoor) October 7, 2018

4. Alok Nath

He’s fondly known as the Sanskaari Bapu on the celluloid. In real life, he’s anything but! The industry was shaken when TV producer Vinta Nanda accused Nath of Rape! Here’s her Facebook post where she exposed the dark and demonic side of the actor:-

If you thought this was it, another actor called Deepika Amin wrote a similar post on Fb to back Nanda’s horrific story:-

Wait, there’s one more. Sandhya Mridul shared her experience with Nath as well. She said, “Till one night after an early pack up. The cast went out for dinner. At dinner he got progressively drunk and started insisting I sit with him and that I belonged to him and other stuff that I don’t clearly remember but it made me very nervous and uncomfortable. My co-star realised what was happening and got me out of there. We went back to the hotel without dinner. It was late and I was back in my room and the costume dada came to my room to give me my clothes for the next day as I had a very early call time. Few minutes after he left there was a knock on my door I opened the door thinking it was him again .. it was an inebriated Alok Nath I instinctively tried to shut the door but he pushed it and lunged at me, I stepped aside he went flying past me into the room .. I fell back toward the bathroom door he lunged at me again screaming I want you you’re mine .. I dodged again he went into the bathroom and I think I latched the loo door and ran out of my room down the corridor into the lobby. Fortunately, my DoP was there making a call from the reception.” 

“He came back to my room what ensued was traumatic because a belligerent Alok Nath refused to leave.. kept screaming shouting threatening abusing trying to grab me.. but at some point we managed to make him leave. The hairdresser was called and made to sleep in my room I was so shaken up,” she added. Even after all this he did not stop and continued harassing her with calling her no. of times in the night. Elaborating on the same she stated, “It didn’t stop there .. every evening he would drink and every night calls were made to my room. I dreaded the ring.. I had to keep it off the hook most of the times. But then he would come calling. It was a catch 22 situation. I had the hairdresser moved in to my room permanently. I was a nervous wreck.”

Alok Nath has filed a defamation case against Nanda and Mridul. Let’s see what happens next!

5. Vikas Bahl

Bahl wasn’t only accused by an employee of Phantom Films but also an actor who worked with him in Queen. We are talking about Nayani Dixit. She said, “Whatever the girl has accused Vikas Bahl is not at all wrong because he also tried his hand on me. I literally told him that ‘main tumhe maarungi if you do this again’. So I am sure he did the same with the girl in question as well. Next day, when I came on the sets, something went wrong with my hair. I didn’t get it as it’s not my area of concern. But Vikas blasted me and he behaved very weird with me. Now when I look back, I realized that why this behaviour. Since he did not get a chance on me, he was taking revenge.”

She added, “They kept us in a 2-star hotel. When I said that I am not comfortable, Vikas told me that he can share his room with me. Look at his audacity! We were shooting for the London Thumakda song and in the crew, there was a 21-year-old local Delhi girl who was in the costume department. Vikas flirted even with her and she was very uncomfortable and she later confided to me that why this person is always after me. Even Kangana Ranaut was witness to this drama and even she was taken aback. She remarked, ‘Tu pagal hai kya?”

Bahl has retaliated by sending legal notices to his former partners Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane. His lawyer has stated in the notice, “This makes us wonder whether the alleged incident of sexual assault also has any authenticity, given that the alleged victim was, in fact, working as your own employee. You are neither a witness nor the alleged victim, but instead an opportunist seeking to derive benefit based on unsubstantiated information. The alleged incident has not been established in any court of law… you have exploited the media to propagate your own personal vendetta.”

6. Kailash Kher

Kailash Kher, who’s known for a magnetic and charming voice, ended up doing something highly despicable and deplorable. Singer Sona Mohapatra took to her Twitter account and revealed something shocking:-

(1) I met Kailash for coffee in Prithvi Café to discuss a forthcoming concert where both our bands were playing & after the usual, a hand on my thigh with lines likes, your so beautiful, feel so good that a ‘musician got you’ (Ram) not an actor. I left not soon after. (1) https://t.co/Cfz8Hf4sdP

— SONA (@sonamohapatra) October 9, 2018

Kher is yet to give out his side of the story!

7. Varun Grover

Varun Grover’s alleged sexual assault is the reason why Sacred Games 2 may not see the lights of the day. A woman says she was harassed by the writer-lyricist in 2001 during a play. Grover took to his Twitter account to clarify his stand:-

I completely, totally, categorically deny all the allegations being made. The screenshot in question is untrue, misleading, and defamatory to say the least. Issuing a detailed statement soon.

— वरुण (@varungrover) October 9, 2018

Here’s my detailed statement about the completely fabricated, misleading, and defamatory allegations against me. Am absolutely willing to cooperate and clear my name. Let’s not allow such agenda-driven tactics to derail this movement please. pic.twitter.com/VTFeIjygcl

— वरुण (@varungrover) October 9, 2018

8. Chetan Bhagat

Author Chetan Bhagat, who’s often trolled on Social Media, was now accused of the same harassment charges. A journalist by the name of Anushree Majumdar, took to her Facebook account and said:-

And this was Bhagat’s statement on the same:-

9. Gaurang Doshi

Stree actor Flora Saini, in a shocking Facebook post, slammed film producer Gaurang Doshi and said she was physically abused and beaten up. Have a look:-

It’s indeed shocking!

10. Subhash Kapoor

Jolly LLB director Subhash Kapoor was accused of sexual harassment and attempt to rape by actress Geetika Tyagi back in 2014. The director was arrested but later released on Bail. However, Kapoor said he’ll answer all the questions and respond to all the allegations in the court of law.

There are many more names waiting to come out in the open, many more stories that will soon come out of the carpet, explode on the Internet and drastically reduce a man’s so-called repute and recognition to pulp!

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