Actor Tanushree Dutta has lashed out at Shahid Kapoor, Akshya Kumar and Rajinikanth for continuing to work with Nana Patekar and choreographer Ganesh Acharya even after she complained of being sexually harassed by them.
Speaking to reporters Tanushree recounted how while shooting Horn OK Pleassss in 2008, she and her parents were attacked by a mob of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) party workers on the sets of the film. India Today recently released the footage of Tanushree’s car being attacked and vandalised in 2008, while she and her elderly parents were in it. The video conclusively corroborates her allegations and has gone viral.
Tanushree said, “I was harassed, I was attacked by the MNS party. And all this was done in tandem with Nana Patekar, Ganesh Acharya, producer Sami Siddiqui and Rakesh Sawant, who was the director of the film. These guys were involved in making me go through hell and even today nobody has condemned their actions from the film industry. Many big stars including Rajinikanth, Akshay Kumar and Shahid Kapoor have continued to work with Ganesh Acharya.
“My question is No, you cannot do that. Somebody who has gotten away illegally by harassing me, sending goons to attack me. You cannot work with that person and rub it on my face….So after all this, these big stars, are you soulless and conscience-less? Does it matter (to them) at all?”
Tanushree, who has found support from many stars including Farhan Akhtar, Renuka Shahane, Sonam Kapoor Ahuja and more recently, Varun Dhawan, had told reporters, “Where I had to walk away from the industry out of fear, emotional and psychological trauma. Have you ever experienced of being attacked an angry mob? How many people here have experienced of being attacked by an angry mob? How many of you all have been a part of mob lynchings? None of you all.
“You don’t know how horrendous that situation is. You don’t know if you are going to come out of it alive. They were breaking our windshields of our car, one guy was jumping on top of our car… I was sitting there and thinking what if I am going to lose my parents tonight.”
Varun, who recently released Sui Dhaaga has done brisk business at the box office, said that he had been busy with with his film, so wasn’t able to hear the whole story. “But I think what’s most important at a work place is respect — whether for a woman, man or a child. We want to make our industry a safe place and everyone deserves equal respect. Also if someone is openly talking about the issue, we should hear them out. It takes great courage to talk about it and I applaud that courage.”