With the recent allegation of molestation by Tanushree Dutta against veteran actor Nana Patekar during the shooting of Horn Ok Please, the actress has set the #MeToo ball rolling in the Indian media industry.
Post Tanushree’s repeated charged against Nana, more actresses and other media professionals have come out in the open with their own horror stories.
While comedian Utsav Chakraborty of All India Bakchod (AIB) was exposed of his dirty doings of sending nude pictures to women as well as minors, its founders Tanmay Bhat has been asked to step down from the AIB board for not taking action against Utsav despite knowing about his misdeeds. On the other hand, co-founder Gursimran Khamba has been temporarily relieved from his duties.
AIB had become notoriously infamous with their roast of Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor which was full of vulgar actions and expletives with several cases filed against AIB and the actors.
On the television front, writer/producer Vinita Nanda (of Tara fame) took to twitter to condemn sanskari Alok Nath who nearly two decades ago brutally molested the writer when she was under the influence of alcohol. Alok Nath had been the mainstay of many a television series including Tara in his hey days. According to her post, she was forced to consume more alcohol and at her own house, she was physically assaulted by the veteran actor.
With #MeToo gaining momentum, Vinita Nanda finally put forth her story. She clarified further that the reason she kept quiet then was because she needed the job and the money but finally, couldn’t let the demon rest inside her.
On the film front, post Tanushree’s opening act, producer/director Vikas Bahl (of Queen fame) has been accused of molestation by one of his co-workers. Taking a strong stance against it, actor Hrithik Roshan publically declared the producers of his next film Super 30 to take strong action against Vikas Bahl who has directed Super 30 which is currently in the post production stage. Vikas Bahl was a part of the now dissolved Phantom Films and there are reasons to believe that it was Vikas’s actions that led to the production house being dissolved. Most likely, Vikas Bahl won’t be credited in the film.
With more and more women from the film industry as well as other industries joining the #MeToo movement, its time the law took some serious look at the allegations and punish the culprits so that a strong message goes out to one and all.
