Actor Tanushree Dutta, who attacked Nana Patekar, another veteran Bollywood actor on Wednesday by accusing him of sexually harassing her in the past, has made more allegations.
She has now alleged that when she went public about her allegations on harassment by Nana Patekar in 2008, she was attacked by ‘political party goons’ while her parents were inside the car. She told NDTV, “I was threatened and my car was attacked while my parents were in it. The harassment continued for years. I was attacked by a political party at the behest of Nana Patekar.”
When asked to name the party, she said, “MNS (Maharashtra Navnirman Sena). It’s a pathetic party by itself. They are also doing things to gain mileage for themselves by doing breaking down things. They have no standing of their own like BJP or Congress. It’s easy to take an honest individual who is trying to earn a living and overpower them with muscle power and then call yourself powerful and strong.”
Calling Nana a criminal, she repeated her stance that other big names in Bollywood should not work with him. “Of course! You must not work with criminals. You must not work with people who harass girls. You must not work with people who after harassing girls call political party goons to bash up the girl and her family and attack her car.”
Tanushree said that that during the shooting of her 2008 film Horn Ok Please, she was pushed and intimidated by Nana on the sets.
She also lamented that if Akshay Kumar and Rajinikanth also kept working with Nana Patekar, then there was no hope for women. “Akshay Kumar has made few films with Nana Patekar in last eight years and Rajinikanth also recently worked with him (in Kaala)… If such big stars will keep working with these culprits then there’s no hope for any movement to happen,” she was quoted as saying.
Recounting her experience on the casting couch phenomenon in Bollywood, Tanushree said that the lead actress in any movie was decided by the male actor and not the casting director. She said that one of her friends had once overheard an actor talking to a casting director about choosing the female lead in a film. But instead of discussing her past films or acting performances, the actor had asked, “Deti hai kya.” She further said about the director saying ‘Aagar deti nhi hai to isko milegi nhi.’