Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan Thursday evaded a direct answer when asked about actor Tanushree Dutta's claim that actor Nana Patekar harassed her on the sets of a film in 2008, an allegation that is being seen as Bollywood's #MeToo moment.
"My name is not Tanushree and my name is not Nana Patekar," Bachchan said when asked to react to Tanushree's recent TV interview.
Aamir Khan, on the other hand, said it would not be right for him to comment but "whenever something like this does happens it is really a sad thing".
The two stars were present at the trailer launch of their upcoming film Thugs of Hindostan.
Aamir also went on to say that it would be unfair on his part to comment on the controversy without knowing the 'veracity' or the 'details' of the matter.
"I don't think I can comment on it. But whenever something like this does happens it is really a sad thing. Now whether such thing has happened or not, it is for people to investigate," he said.
For the uninitiated, actress Tanushree Dutta, in a TV interview recently said that Nana Patekar misbehaved with her on the sets of Horn Ok Pleassss 10 years ago.
The actress, a former Miss India-Universe who is now based in the US, also alleged that Patekar had the tacit support of the film's makers.
Patekar, who had denied the claims at a press conference when Tanushree raised the issue in 2008, remained unreachable despite several attempts to contact him for his version of what had happened.
Tanushree Dutta's allegations have opened a furious debate on sexual harassment in the Hindi film industry with many supporting her, but others questioning her motives for raising the issue so many years later.
The actress, who has featured in films such as Aashiq Banaya Aapne and Chocolate, said she spoke about the issue earlier and no one had the right to say anything to her.
"They called me a slut, an unprofessional, when I spoke about it eight to ten years back. Nobody has the right to say anything to me now," Dutta told PTI.
Tanushree also said that there is social stigma and character assassination that a woman goes through when she talks or tries to talk about such incidents.
Recounting the incident and its aftermath, she claimed she tried to escape but the situation went from being a "harassment situation to a mob lynching situation".
"When I tried to escape they called the media, they called some people to mob lynch and attack my car. My parents were there inside and even I was inside, it was horrific. So from harassment situation to a mob lynching situation... they made sure that we did not escape from the studio, they locked the gates and then the cops came and they got us out. So when we filed the police report, they filed a counter complaint and because of the counter FIR, my dad, hair dresser and spot boy had to go through so much harassment over the next couple of years," the actress recalled.
