#MeToo effect: Nana Patekar to Sajid Khan - Spotlight on Bollywood’s hall of shame

Over the last week, nothing except Bollywood’s Hall of Shame made headlines. As alleged first-time and serial offenders tumbled out of the woodwork, the industry felt tremors in some cases, plain ashamed and vulnerable in others. After the allegations, there have been denials and statements coming in from those who have been accused. With many of the industry bigwigs taking a firm stand against such behaviour towards women at the workplace, there have been consequences to bear for many. However, colleagues have also stood up for a few. Here’s what has transpired so far:

ACTION TAKEN

Akshay Kumar, Aamir Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Ajay Devgn posted sensitive tweets on their social media handles making it clear that they will not work with proven offenders. Akshay asked for the shoot of Housefull 4, which was to be directed by Sajid Khan and had Nana Patekar as part of the cast, to be postponed. Aamir stepped away from Mogul. Ajay and Hrithik, too, have made their stand on the matter clear. Here’s what they had to say:

Akshay: “I’ve just landed back in the country last night and reading all the news has been very disturbing. I’ve requested the producers of Housefull 4 to cancel the shoot until further investigation. This is something that requires stringent action. I will not work with any proven offenders and those who have been subjugated to harassment should be heard and given the justice they deserve. (sic)”

Ajay: “I’m disturbed by all the happenings with regards to #MeToo. My company and I believe in providing women with utmost respect and safety. If anyone has wronged even a single woman, neither ADF (Ajay Devgn FFilms) nor I will stand for it. (sic)”

Aamir: “As creative people, we have been committed to foregrounding and finding solutions to social issues and at Aamir Khan Productions, we have always had a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual misconduct and predatory behaviour of any kind. We strongly condemn any act of sexual harassment, and equally we condemn any and all false accusations in such cases

Two weeks ago, when traumatic #MeToo stories began emerging, it was brought to our attention that someone we were about to begin work with has been accused of sexual misconduct. Upon enquiry we found that this particular case is sub judice, and that the legal process is in motion.

We are not an investigative agency, nor are we in any position to pass judgment on anyone — that is for the police and judiciary to do. So, without casting any aspersions on anyone involved in this case, and without coming to any conclusions about these specific allegations, we have decided to step away from this film.

We do not want our action to reflect in any manner on the people involved in this case. We believe that this is an opportunity for the film industry to introspect and take concrete steps towards change. For far too long, women have faced the brunt of sexual exploitation. It has to stop. In this regard, we are committed to doing any and everything to make our film industry a safe and happy one to work in.”

Hrithik Roshan: “It is impossible for me to work with any person if he/she is guilty of such grave misconduct. I am away and have access to only sporadic information. I have requested the producers of Super 30 to take stock of the apparent facts and take a harsh stand if need be. This is not to be hushed or brushed under the carpet. All proven offenders must be punished and all exploited people must be empowered and given strength to speak up.”

BIG CORPORATIONS ISSUE ULTIMATUM

Film corporations, especially those who have their headquarters overseas have started blacklisting the movies and the makers whose names have appeared on the #MeToo list. They have communicated to all top producers’ that they will pull out their investment with immediate effect, even if one offender is a part of the cast, crew or associated with the film in any other capacity.

OUSTED OR DID THEY STEP DOWN?

Two theories are being floated. While it is being said that Nana Patekar, Sajid Khan and Subhash Kapoor stepped down, others are saying they were reportedly asked to leave. We are guessing, the truth lies between the two versions.

DUTTA’S FAMILY TO STAY MUM

We had already reported that Ishita Dutta, Tanushree’s younger sister has stayed mum on the #MeToo Movement, though her sister has spearheaded it. Now we have learnt that apparently even Ishita’s husband, actor Vatsal Sheth will not be commenting on this either.

SAJID KHAN’S FAMILY RESPONDS

Sajid’s sister Farah Khan took stock of the situation and expressed herself with this tweet: “This is a heartbreaking time for my family. We have to work through some very difficult issues. If my brother has behaved in this manner he has a lot to atone for. I don’t in any way endorse this behaviour and Stand in solidarity with any woman who has been hurt. (sic)” Sajid’s cousin Farhan Akhtar, who has supported this movement right from the beginning, said, “I cannot adequately stress how shocked, disappointed and heartbroken I am to read the stories about Sajid’s behaviour. I don’t know how but he will have to find a way to atone for his alleged actions.”

SAJID’S STATEMENT

The director, through a tweet, said, “In the wake of all the allegations against me & the pressure being put on my family, my producer n the stars of my film Houseful4, i must take the moral responsibility of stepping down from my directorial post, till the time i can allay the allegations and prove the truth.. I request my friends in the media to kindly not pass judgement till the truth is out (sic).”

LUV REACTS TO ALLEGATIONS

Luv Ranjan has responded to the charges levelled against him with this statement:

This has probably been the longest day of my life. Since the time I have read the allegations, I have been wanting to react to them. I have been wanting to shout out loud that everyone has gone mad, I have been wanting to scream that I am not this man, I have been wanting to clear my name. Friends and Family have shown great support, support that has made me indebted to them for life. 

I am very aware of the fact I am the man who made Pyaar Ka Punchnama and it becomes very easy for someone who doesn’t know me personally to believe that I am guilty. Am I guilty? I have been wanting to scream out loud that I am not. I have never misbehaved with a woman, never touched a woman who isn’t in love with me and I with her, I haven’t sexted, flirted, molested or harassed a woman. I haven’t. 

After getting rid of my anger towards the whole thing I have come to realise a few things — It doesn’t matter that I believe I haven’t done anything wrong, what matters is that someone has felt wronged. 

I have made a lot of effort in life to make women around me feel safe and comfortable which women who have known me or worked with me will vouch for. I have never intended to hurt someone, and taken utmost care to make sure that I don’t and in my heart I know I haven’t. But again what matters is that someone has felt hurt. Can I be so arrogant about myself to ignore that even if unintended, someone has got hurt. I can vouch for my intention but I can’t decide how someone should feel. 

It doesn’t matter that I don’t accept the narrative, what matters is that someone feels hurt enough to present this narrative. I am not the man that I am being portrayed as. I am not. I never was, I never will be. Yet I apologise to whoever I have caused hurt, whoever I have not made feel comfortable enough. I apologise for not being able to communicate my intent. I apologise for not being able to make someone feel that I am the man that I have aspired to be and I believe I am.

LUV’S ACTRESS STANDS UP FOR HIM

Pyar Ka Punchnama (PKP) and PKP 2 actress Sonnalli Seygall stood up for the director saying, “It’s after a long time that such a relevant movement has started n it would be really sad n unfortunate if we deviate from our agenda here. The #metoo movement is to bring forth the people “guilty” of sexual harassment and not to shoot in the dark aimlessly. If we start believing every name thrown in the media today for whatever personal agenda or whatever you wanna call it, we are really digressing from the topic, and even risk trivialising the issue! Let’s also b sensible, sensitivity intelligent human beings and use our common sense to see what’s real and what’s not, otherwise the true criminals WILL get away and nothing will be solved. and let’s pls hold ourselves responsible for what we choose to believe and what not. Luv Ranjan is a man I have now known n worked with for almost 8 years and the allegations against him by this one “anonymous” person is the most absurd thing I have heard about him! I honestly what to say to that... but I can vouch for the fact that he one of the nicest gentleman with a protective guardian like quality who has always made me, and as far as I know all the women on our set including the female actors, ADs and crew, feel very very safe. On the contrary, there have been multiple cases where he has protected us from disgusting men. One such case was when we were shooting in Chandni Chowk in Delhi during PKP 2 and suddenly we couldn’t find Luv sir, only to find out that he went to hit a guy who had tried to brush past n touch one of us girls on the road. There was another time during the shoot of Chak Glassi in PKP where he fought with and threw the media out of the set because some of them were clicking our pictures inappropriately without us knowing. There have been multiple incidents like this which just go on to say that he is infact the man contrary to the baseless allegations made recently. So, I really wanna take this opportunity to stand by #MeToo and safeguard the movement’s true interest. But let’s take some responsibility upon ourselves and not blindly believe everything that we hear. Let’s be intelligent and wise. (sic)”