Former Femina Miss India beauty pageant winner and actor Niharika Singh is the latest to speak up in the #MeToo movement.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s biography titled An Ordinary Life: A Memoir was caught in controversies after he revealed that he was in a romantic relationship with his Miss Lovely co-star, Niharika Singh.
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At that time, Niharika said that the book was published without her knowledge.
A year later, the former Miss India has written an open letter sharing her side of the story with Nawaz.
In a series of tweets shared by journalist Sandhya Menon, the post reads, “Nowaz (Nawaz) had engaged multiple women, giving each one a different story; one of them even called me from his phone and started yelling at me. I also found about out about a woman he’d married in Haldwani whose family sued him for making dowry demands. I told him to clean up his mess, be honest with himself and everyone around him.”
“One morning, when I was home and he had been shooting all night, Nowaz sent me a text saying he was near my building. I invited him over and asked him to come and have breakfast with me. When I opened the door, he grabbed me. I tried to push him away but he wouldn’t let go. After a little coercion, I finally gave in. I wasn’t sure what to make of this relationship. He told me it was his dream to have a Miss India or an actress wife, just like Paresh Rawal and Manoj Bajpayee. I found his little confession funny but endearing”, writes Niharika.
2005 Miss India Niharika Singh’s experiences in Bollywood but especially with Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Mayank Singh Singvi
Niharika and other women accused Siddiqui of making up lies in his autobiography, due to which he withdrew the book.
This is her side of the story. pic.twitter.com/XBVGgE3r0c
— Sandhya Menon (@TheRestlessQuil) November 9, 2018
The post further reads, “In 2013, Nawaz was offered a film by Buddhadeb Dasgupta titled and he called me to ask me if I would do a small role in that film. I would only be required to shoot for 3 days. I gladly agreed and went to Shimultata where the shoot was scheduled. He tried to re-engage me sexually, begging me to be with him but I refused, saying I was happy to be his friend and nothing else. After coming back from the shoot, I didn’t take his calls and maintained my distance”.
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“I met Nawaz again in 2014 at the ‘Miss Lovely’ India release. This time he came in a SUV, with an entourage as the ‘star’ of the film. He was constantly throwing tantrums, upset with the way the promotions were being handled. He complained that the director should’ve just made a painting at home if he didn’t care much about box-office. He was very awkward around me so I tried to overcompensate by praising him in media interactions and indulged him to make him feel secure. One evening, after a promotional event in Ahmedabad, he tried to grab me again. I just walked away. ‘Anwar ka ajab kissa’ didn’t get a theatrical release and I heard from various sources that Nawaz had started telling people that I was a terrible actress. I didn’t get too many film offers after that.”
In the post, Niharika has also discussed the abuse that is normalised in professions like modelling and acting. Mentioning producer Bhushan Kumar, the chairman and managing director of T-Series, allegedly sent her a text and when she responded making her disinterest clear, she says he did not try again.
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However, he lost interest in the film, in which Niharika was co-starring with Himesh Reshammiya, that he was supposed to produce.
Niharika also mentions filmmaker Sajid Khan in her post. She mentions, “who I met a couple of times while he was dating an actress I knew years ago, made a few predictions when a close friend of ours was opening her second restaurant – ‘This place will shut down within a year, mark my words.’ To his actress girlfriend he said, ‘She won’t survive a day without me in Bollywood’. ‘And, this one’, looking at me straight, ‘will soon commit suicide.”
Apart from this, Niharika has written about her troubled relationship and a broken engagement with Mayank Singh Singvi.
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