People are taking their clothes off for publicity: Bollywood biggies caught mocking Tanushree Dutta on tape

After actress Tanushree Dutta accused Nana Patekar of sexually harassing her 10 years back, on the sets of the film Horn Ok Pleasss, several celebrities from B-town came out in support of the actress. 

However, there are some others who do not believe what Tanushree has to say, have dismissed her story, mocked her, and have even called it a publicity stunt. 

Now, after a sting operation by Times Now, some tapes have been released by the channel, with the producer of the 2008 film Horn Ok Pleasss, Samee Siddiqui, the film’s director Rakesh Sarang, the Cine & TV Artists Association (CINTAA) member Raza Murad and former FTII chairperson Gajendra Chauhan, mocking Tanushree and making sexist comments amounting to victim shaming.

In one of the tapes, Samee Siddiqui was heard saying, “Should I tell you the truth? I feel that day she was on her periods. So, you get irritated. Small touch or maybe something else, even I don’t know what exactly happened because I wasn’t there.” 

Gajendra Chauhan, on the other hand, washed his hands off the incident, and went on to say that the burden of proof was on the actress as she is the victim.

“What can CINTAA do? It cannot act like police. It can’t make Nana Patekar appear before it. How will it prove that Nana is the culprit?” Gajendra questioned. 

When the reporter pointed out that there were many people on the set who could be called as witnesses, Gajendra said, “Ask them to come to court and speak. If it comes to going to court or police, not one of them will come forward.”

He further said, “First she should prove herself as victim! Just by saying, you won’t become a victim. You were roaming as a victim for 10 years!” 

Incidentally, CINTAA on Tuesday issued a statement in support of Tanushree. 

“CINTAA strongly condemns any act that outrages the modesty of any individual and any form of sexual harassment is unacceptable to us,” the statement by the group read.

They also publicly denounced the decision taken by the CINTAA Executive Committee in 2008 when Tanushree Dutta had filed a complaint of sexual harassment against the veteran actor. 

“After going through Tanushree Dutta's complaint, which was filed with the then Executive Committee of CINTAA in March 2008, we feel that the decision was taken in the Joint Dispute Settlement Committee of CINTAA and Indian Film and TV Producers Council (which was then known as Association of Motion Pictures and TV Programme Producers) in July 2008 was not appropriate, as the chief grievance of sexual harassment wasn't even addressed,” read the statement further.

Meanwhile, director Rakesh Sarang on the tape was caught saying that Tanushree is  making the allegations because of Bigg Boss. 

“Now girls are giving their bedroom sex videos on the internet. This is what has happened to this industry. People are taking their clothes off for publicity. Their attitude is, so what if we get a bad name, at least we’ll get publicity,” Rakesh said. 

He further questioned why Tanushree was 'shouting' and not going to the police.

Raza Murad then dismissed Tanushree Dutta’s story as an 'over-reaction'. 

He also said that Tanushree should have been the one to follow up on the case and complaint with CINTAA, even after going to the US. 

He even said that Nana Patekar is a 'gentleman'.