India’s #MeToo crescendo shakes up the tinsel town & media world, unravels their dirtiest secrets

#MeToo is a hard hitting reality of today’s time, many call it as just a movement but it is in the momentum of #MeToo that every girl- from a college going girl to journalists and the Bollywood too have stood up for their respect.

The most glamorous and glittering industry, what we call as the ‘Bollywood’, is a mud puddle where the actresses became the bait of the directors, producers and the actors. Apart from Bollywood, the journalism industry is also not far off, some senior editors and editors have also stood up even after years and years of harassment, but they have.

ALSO READ: Minister and former editor, MJ Akbar accused of sexual harassment

This is a proud moment for everyone that these woman are standing up against the wrongdoings of men, but at the same time it shows the sad reality of a country which emphasises on ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’, but today we can see the irony of this country that at one hand they are worshiping Goddess Durga, keeping fast for nine days and on the other hand they are the one’s who can’t respect and take part in keeping a woman safe in this country.

In the last couple of days many woman have stood up and left the whole country in shock after they revealed the names of some of the most influential people, so here is the list of the ‘shameless’ people who have been accused in this #MeToo brigade:

• Tanushree Dutta accused Nana Patekar, Vivek Agnihotri

It started with Tanushree when she opened up about a 10 year old controversy. She allegedly said that she was harassed by the Horn Ok Pleassss actor, Nana Patekar. In an interview with Zoom TV she said that however everyone knew about the harassment nobody took any action. She even named Ganesh Acharya, the producer of Horn Ok Pleassss.

She even filed a complaint against him and recently recorded an official statement, and the court case shall proceed soon.

After her allegation Nana Patekar also replied and said “What do you mean sexual harassment? There were 50-100 people on the set with me, will see what I can do legally. It’s a waste talking (to media), you guys will play up anything.” He also added “People can say whatever they want to say, I will keep doing my work,” he added.

Vivek Agnihotri was also accused by Tanushree Dutta for allegedly asking her to strip naked and dance during a song sequence and claimed that the director tried to make her feel uncomfortable on purpose.

• Utsav Chakraborty and Gursimran Khamba accused by women on social media

Comedian Utsav Chakraborty was under fire after he was accused of sexual violence by a woman on social media. The comedy group he has been working with, AIB, has been following the allegations and has decided to chuck down all his videos from their videos and posted an apology on Twitter saying that Tanmay Bhatt knew about it but did not highlight this case then.

After looking at this AIB took a strong step and chucked out Tanmay Bhatt and Gursimran Khamba as he was also accused of sexual and mental harassment by a woman who said that he forced himself on her and Khamba shared an apology on social media.

• Chetan Bhagat accused by a woman for sending him lewd messages

A woman shared screenshots of her conversation with Chetan Bhagat, in which the author says he wants to woo her ignoring her protests that he is married. The post by the woman is no longer available on Twitter but Chetan Bhagat posted his reply on Facebook, which said:

•  Vikas Bahl accused by Kangana Ranaut, Nayani Dixit and another actress

A woman working at Phantom Films alleged that Vikas Bahl molested her while they were in Goa. Supporting the woman, Kangna Ranaut said that she totally believes her. Kangana also said that he used to hug me tight in parties, dug his head in my shoulders and used to smell my hair.

Another co-star of Queen, Nayani Dixit came out in support of Kangana and said that doing Queen was her life’s biggest mistake, “whatever the girl has accused Vikas Bahl is not at all wrong because he also tried his hand on me. I literally told him that ‘main tumhe maarungi if you do this again”. She also added “they kept us in a 2-star hotel. When I said that I am not comfortable, Vikas told me that he can share his room with me. Look at his audacity!”

Anurag Kashyap also said that he knew about the Phantom actress accusation but didn’t take any action on it and is feeling sorry now. In light of these events, he also decided to quit the MAMI board.

In the light of the current events , I have decided to step back from my duties as a board member from MAMI until the shadow of doubt of our alleged complicitness in silence and not doing anything about it , is cleared.

— Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) October 10, 2018

• Alok Nath accused by Vinta Nanda, Navneet Nishan and Sandhya Mridul

Veteran writer-producer, Vinta Nanda accused Bollywood’s most ‘Sanskari’ Alok Nath of sexually assaulting her almost two years ago in a Facebook post:

Another actress Sandhya Mridul accused him of sexual harassment in a tweet:

In truth & solidarity.
I’m with you @vintananda #metoo pic.twitter.com/ZoiT2dT3yL

— Sandhya Mridul (@sandymridul) October 10, 2018

Tara actress, Navneet Nishan also accused Alok Nath of harassing her and said “I dealt with the four-year harassment by slapping the man in question, and it is done and dusted. l suffered the loss of the show and was further shamed by the man through media and I endured that.”

• CEO of Force Magazine, Ghazala Wahab accused MoS MJ Akbar of sexual harassment 

Ghazala Wahab, the current executive editor of FORCE magazine, has accused Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar of sexual harrassment.

She gave an interview to The Wire and “I heard people refer to the Asian Age Delhi office as Akbar’s harem — there were far too many young women than men. And I also frequently heard office gossip about his affairs with sub editors/ reporters or that in every regional office of the Asian Age he had a girlfriend. I shrugged all of it as office culture. I was in the periphery of his attention and remained unaffected.”

• Rajat Kapoor accused by a writer/journalist of sexual harassment 

On October 7, writer and journalist Sandhya Menon shared a post, wherein two women had accused the ‘Kapoor & Sons’ actor of misconduct. One of the two women is a journalist, who stated that while she was interviewing Rajat Kapoor on the phone, he misbehaved and asked her ‘are you as sexy as you sound’, also inquired about her body measurements.

I don’t even know any more.

Filmmaker Rajat Kapoor

Two separate and different accounts pic.twitter.com/nBjNOsun3j

— Sandhya Menon (@TheRestlessQuil) October 7, 2018

After this Rajat Kapoor apologised for his behaviour, taking it to the Twitter:

I am sorry from the bottom of my heart- and sad that I was the cause of this hurt
to another human being.

If there is one thing more important to me than even my work,
it is to be a good human being.
And I have tried to be that person.
And now, I will try harder.

— Rajat Kapoor (@mrrajatkapoor) October 7, 2018

•  Kailash Kher was accused by singer Sona Mohapatra

Sona Mohaptra alleged that she was sexually harassed by fellow singer Kailash Kher. She posted a series of tweets, Sona accused Kailash for making inappropriate sexual advances towards her.

(2) That did not deter Kailash Kher though. On landing in Dhaka & on my way to the venue with the organisers, keeps calling me & when I don’t pick up, calls the organisers phone to get through to me & asks me to ‘skip’ the soundcheck & join him in his room instead to ‘catch up’ https://t.co/beBehXBLup

— SONA (@sonamohapatra) October 9, 2018

3)The fact that Kailash had sung in my studios & for many projects in which I was the producer & knew me to be as strong as i am or that he had only recently taken a favour from my partner @RamSampathLive to create a personal track for him didn’t stop him. #TheHubris of such #men https://t.co/GLHvCsIPDR

— SONA (@sonamohapatra) October 9, 2018

How many women will you apologise to Kailash Kher??? Start now. Will take a lifetime. (4) 🤘🏾🔴 https://t.co/yZimwUshoE

— SONA (@sonamohapatra) October 9, 2018

• Varun Grover accused by a former BHU student 

On Monday, screenwriter Varun Grover was accused of sexual harassment by a woman. An anonymous handle on Twitter alleged that Grover harassed her when they were part of a play in college. Grover has denied all the allegations.

Reports also suggest that Netflix might cancel ‘Sacred games 2’ from getting on air.

• Sidharth Bhatia (The Wire) and Prashant Jha (Hindustan Times) accused of sexual harassment 

Journalist Sandhya Menon accused Sidharth Bhatia of alleged harassment and making inappropriate comments. To which Sidharth Bhatia apologised and said:

Wild allegations about me are doing the rounds on Twitter. ⁦@thewire_in⁩ too has been dragged into it. Here’s my statement about it. I would also urge fellow professional journalists not to fall for rumour and innuendo. pic.twitter.com/6J4uCIOwnv

— Sidharth Bhatia (@bombaywallah) October 8, 2018

The Wire also put out a tweet stating that should any person wish to lodge a specific complaint against any of the publication’s employees, they can approach its Internal Complaints Committee which is headed by managing editor Monobina Gupta.

The Internal Complaints Committee at @thewire_in is headed by our managing editor, Monobina Gupta.

Anyone who wishes to make a specific complaint against The Wire’s employees, including its founding editors, may email mg@thewire.in https://t.co/lf9hsYtRsX

— The Wire 🏳️‍🌈 (@thewire_in) October 8, 2018

Prashant Jha on the other hand, stepped down as Political Editor and bureau chief after a former colleague accused him of harassing her. In his letter to his editor, Jha said: “There have been specific allegations against me – and my personal conduct – recently, which have raised moral questions about my conduct. In this backdrop, I believe it would be best for me to step down…”

• Singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya accused by a flight attendant 

A Facebook user, goes by the name Bodhisattva YaMyoho, a former flight attendant, has accused Bhattacharya of sexually harassing her at Hotel Hindustan International in Kolkata in the summer of 1998. But the girl removed her post later.

Giving a reply to her, he said “I have not gone to any pub for the last 20 years. You are talking about a case of 1998. You think I will remember? Please don’t do all these things. The only thing I have to say is, I have never been to a pub in the last 20 years.”

• Jwala Gutta accused the ‘badminton chief’ of mentally harassing her

Recalling the unsavoury incident, where the badminton player, Jwala Gutta was given then axe, right after securing gold with Ashwini Ponnappa at the Commonwealth Games women’s doubles event. Gutta voiced her displeasure over the unfair treatment she received from the BFI chief- Gopichand.

Maybe I should talk about the mental harassment I had to go through… #metoo

— Gutta Jwala (@Guttajwala) October 9, 2018

Since 2006.since this person became the chief ..threw me out of national team inspite of me being a national champion.the latest was when I returned from https://t.co/Ag37TlXFd3 out of national team https://t.co/OVhyvFNAN9 of the reasons I stopped playing!!

— Gutta Jwala (@Guttajwala) October 9, 2018

• Stree actress accused producer Gaurang Doshi

Flora Saini, the ghost of ‘Stree’ opened up and accused producer Gaurang Doshi of abusing and intimidating her in 2007. She alleged, Doshi, her former romantic partner, left her with a ‘fractured jaw and a scarred soul.’

Flora Saini claimed that she didn’t speak up when the alleged abuse took place because it was the word of a powerful producer against hers and that Doshi threatened her with loss of work.

It’s high time when we should raise our voice against sexual, mental or physical harassment because ‘bahut karli izzat, ab waqt hai awaz uthane ka!’