It looks like Tanushree Dutta accusing actor Nana Patekar of sexual abuse has opened a can of worms. On October 6, a former employee of Phantom Films accused director Vikas Bahl of sexual abuse. Actor Kangana Ranaut has come out in support of her. In a media interview, the Manikarnika actress said she “totally believed” the woman when she reported the incident couple of years ago.
She also goes on to say how Bahl misbehaved with her too. “Every time we met, socially greeted and hugged each other, he’d bury his face in my neck, hold me really tight and breathe in the smell of my hair. It took me great amount of strength and effort to pull myself out of his embrace. He’d say ‘I love how you smell K’,” Kangana said. She went on to say that she could tell on the sets of Queen that “something is wrong with him”. Kangana added in the interview, “Even though Vikas was married back in 2014 when we were filming Queen, he bragged about having casual sex with a new partner every other day. I don’t judge people and their marriages, but you can tell when addiction becomes sickness. He partied every night and shamed me for sleeping early and not being cool enough.”
After Anurag Kashyap tweeted about Phantom films being dissolved yesterday, the victim, who worked for the company, spoke out again. There have been rumours that the company founded by Anurag Kashyap, Madhu Mantena and Vikramaditya Motwane was dissolved due to internal scuffles related to the handling of sexual misbehaviour by their partner Vikas Bahl. Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap recently said he was aware of the situation and he regrets that he could not do much at the time. "Whatever happened was wrong. We didn't handle it well. We failed. I cannot blame anyone but myself. But now, we are determined to do better. We believe her completely. She has our undying support. What Bahl has done is horrifying. We are already on our path of course correction and will do everything in our capacity to fix it,” he tweeted.
Kangana in the meantime demanded to know why Bahl was being attacked now, years after the incident. Kangana also said that she lost out on a film because she supported the woman. “Shame on such a society. Go look at yourselves in the mirror, bunch of cowards. Attacking powerless men won’t begin a movement. Either we do it or we don’t. Let’s not be opportunists. If we are a shit society, let’s accept it, at least have that much honesty within yourself. Selective outrage will only serve as entertainment, this will just be tabloid gossip and nothing else.”
Also, director Hansal Mehta called out Vikas Bahl on Twitter for sexually abusing the former employee. His rant however backfired and he was trolled by fans of Knagana Ranaut and Hrithik Roshan. Frustrated, he decided to go off the social media platform.
Post Tanushree Dutta's sexual harassment charges against Nana Patekar, multiple women have come out and talked about their experiences. Vikas Bahl, Kailash Kher, Zulfi Syed and comedian Utsav Chakraborty are facing accusations of sexual abuse.