Just when we all thought that the wave of the #MeToo Movement in India has died down, a fresh allegation of sexual harassment against Munnabhai MBBS director Rajkumar Hirani has left the netizens in shock. The noted filmmaker, who gave the highest grossing film of 2018 in the Sanjay Dutt biopic titled Sanju, has been accused of sexual assault by a female assistant director who worked with him on the Ranbir Kapoor starrer.
A report on Huffpost India suggests that the assistant had complained to Vidhu Vinod Chopra about Hirani in an email, marking his wife Anupama Chopra, sister Shelly Chopra and screen writer Abhijat Joshi as well. Allegedly, Hirani sexually assaulted the victim in the period between March 2018 to September 2018.
The victim has alleged that the first time Hirani had made a sexual remark was on April 9, 2018 post which she was assaulted. She shared in the email, "My mind, body and heart were grossly violated that night and for the next 6 months.”
The woman has also shared that she remained tight lipped on the matter for the sake of her job and that she was afraid if Hirani puts in a bad word for her, she won't be able to find work in the industry again. In her email, she mentions, "I had no choice but to be polite to him. It was unbearable but the reason I endured it all, until I couldn’t, was because I didn’t want my job to be taken away from me, and work to be questioned. Ever I was worried that if I left midway, it would be impossible to find another job in this industry if he were to speak badly about my work.”
HuffPost further reports that Rajkumar Hirani has denied the allegations on him through his lawyer Anand Desai. Hirani's lawyer told the portal, "At the outset, our client states that the allegations made against him are false, mischievous, scandalous, motivated and defamatory.”
Reportedly, producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra refused to comment on the matter and his wife Anupama Chopra said that she's met the complainant twice and has offered her full support. She also recommended that the woman takes the complaint to a legal body or a neutral body. "We also offered to set up an ICC at VCF (which we have set up since then) even though a VCF ICC could not have taken up the case since she was an RHF (Rajkumar Hirani Films) employee at the time. These are two separate companies," Anupama was quoted as saying.
