Actors’ association announces two committees to tackle sexual harassment
Actors Raveena Tandon and Renuka Shahane and filmmaker Amole Gupte will be part of a complaints redressal committee, while actor Swara Bhasker will set up a sub-committee to increase awareness on film sets.
The Cine and TV Artists Association or CINTAA on Wednesday said it will form two committees to tackle sexual harassment in the entertainment industry in the wake of the #MeToo movement.
Actors Raveena Tandon and Renuka Shahane and filmmaker Amole Gupte will be part of a complaints redressal committee, while actor Swara Bhasker will set up a sub-committee to increase awareness on film sets.
At a press conference, CINTAA general secretary and actor Sushant Singh said that the association was also working on drafting guidelines to tackle sexual harassment. The association will work with POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) at Work, an organization that helps employers comply with the The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013, which lays out the Vishaka guidelines on tackling such complaints.
Awareness measures too will be undertaken, through posters and videos on the dos and don’ts in the workplace and counseling sessions.
“We don’t want the committees to become cosmetic,” Singh said. “We will be working with the lawyers at POSH. Swara Bhasker has approached lawyer Vrinda Grover to help us with awareness programmes. We will also make a list of verified casting directors.”
Singh added, “This problem is persistent in every industry. Thank you to all of the true survivors of the #MeToo movement for waking us up.”
The #MeToo movement against sexual harassment gathered momentum in the Hindi film industry after actor Tanushree Dutta on September 25 accused Patekar of behaving inappropriately with her in 2008 on the sets of the unreleased film “Horn ‘Ok’ Pleassss.”
A string of accusations followed against several comedians, media persons and entertainment industry members. Those in Bollywood who have been accused of harassment include actor Rajat Kapoor and filmmakers Sajid Khan, Vikas Bahl and Subhash Ghai.
Earlier this month, CINTAA apologized to Dutta for not addressing her complaint appropriately when she first raised it in 2008. CINTAA and other film workers’ bodies also sent show cause notices to Bahl, Nath, and Khan.
Singh said that in his response to their notice, Nath had denied the allegations and requested them not to expel him till investigation is over. “We will soon come to a decision,” Singh added.
“We don’t intend to be a small voice anymore,” Singh said. “We want to create such a committee that when a person is expelled [from CINTAA], they will be expelled from the industry. When choice is grabbed out of a person, it is not consent, it is submission. We should face these accusations not by knee jerk reactions, but after careful investigation.”
Tanushree Dutta last week filed a first information report against Nana Patekar, also naming choreographer Ganesh Acharya, producer Samee Siddhiqui and director Rakesh Sarang, all of whom were working on the 2008 film. Singh said that since Dutta’s matter was sub-judice, the association could not intervene until the investigation is complete.
Singer Shweta Pandit calls
Anu Malik paedophile
Singer Shweta Pandit has joined the long list of women in the Hindi film industry to name and shame their sexual harassers as part of the #MeToo movement raging across the country. She has shared a detailed account of an incident from 17 years ago when music composer Anu Malik allegedly made sexual advances towards her when she was 15 years old.
Shweta called Anu Malik a paedophile and sexual predator in a long note shared on Twitter on Wednesday. “Had to go back to my worst memory as a teenage girl today to write this and speak up – its now or never. This is my #MeToo and have to warn young girls about #AnuMalik & let you know your #TimesUp @IndiaMeToo Thank you @sonamohapatra for speaking up about him & supporting this,” she wrote in her tweet.
In the note, Shweta details the incident from 2001 when she met Anu for work. Her songs from 2000’s Mohabbatein had become huge hits and she was now looking for more work. She said she was an admirer of the musician and was thrilled when she got a call from Malik’s manager to come to Andheri’s Empire Studio in mid 2001 to meet him.
Malik then asked Pandit to sing a few lines for a voice test and after hearing her, said he’ll give her a song if she ‘gave him a kiss’. Shweta says she was traumatised by the incident. Calling it the “worst experience of my life”, the singer said she was depressed for months after the incident and could not even bring it up with her parents.
Read her full note here:
It has taken a lot in me to open up this wound again and speak up against this pedophile and sexual predator. It was the year 2000 when i was launched as a lead singer with #Mohabbatein (was the youngest singer back then in the Indian music industry) and was trying to get other good songs to follow up with the success of that soundtrack and the outstanding welcome it gave me in the music industry. I got a call from Anu Malik’s then manager (Mustafa) to come to #empirestudio in andheri sometime in mid 2001. I was thrilled like any singer would be. I used to admire his music and practice his songs for hours and look upto him back then! He was recording a group song with Sunidhi and Shaan for the film Awara Pagal Deewana, when my mother and i walked in the monitor room. He told me to wait in the small cabin inside where singers sang at Empire studio. It was just him and me there.
He asked me to sing something without any music as he wanted to hear my voice. I remember i sang the title song of har dil jo pyar karega as a voice test for this man. I sang it well so he said, “ill give you this song with Sunidhi and Shaan but first give me a kiss now” He then smiled, what id recall the most evil grin ive seen. I went numb and pale in the face. I was only 15years old then, still in school. Can anyone even imagine what it felt that moment? It felt like someone had just stabbed me in my stomach. I referred to this man as “Anu uncle”, he knew my entire family for decades and knew us as a respected gharana of musicians for generations who have given our entire lives dedicated to music for 4 generations.
Sacred Games star Elnaaz
Norouzi accuses Vipul Shah
The #MeToo movement in India gathered momentum after Tanushree Dutta in September accused Nana Patekar of sexual harassment on the sets of Horn OK Pleassss in 2008. After that, various women accused celebs such as Vikas Bahl, Sajid Khan, Subhash Ghai, Chetan Bhagat, Kailash Kher, Rajat Kapoor, and Alok Nath of allegedly misbehaving with them.
Thelatest allegation is now being leveled against Bollywood filmmaker Vipul Shah who has been accused of sexual harassment by Sacred Games actor Elnaaz Norouzi. According to Iranian model-turned-actor, Vipul Shah made a sexual advance towards her while auditioning her for his latest film, Namaste England.
In her account to a leading daily, Elnaaz details how Shah made her run for a small role in the film for months without actually casting her ever. The actress even claims that the filmmaker took several auditions of her and fact that he tried to kiss her and get close when she met Vipul at his office. She narrates, “I met him again in his office, and again he mentioned, “We will sign the papers over the next couple of days.” This time, when we were saying bye, he came on to me. It was too close for comfort. I didn’t get the right vibe. He gave a peck on my face. I didn’t expect it. The next time we met at his office, he tried to kiss me. I backed off, said, ‘What are you doing? We are in your office!’ I pushed him away, being affirmative; but careful enough not to come across as rude, because I really wanted the film,”
Elnaaz headed to Namaste England shoot location in Patiala for an audition but yet wasn’t told the story by Vipul. She further adds, “He said, “Come to my room. I will make you hear the script.” At this point, he touched my butt, and dragged me towards himself. I dodged him, went to my room, and sat there wondering if I should just give in.”
Bollywood director Mukesh Chhabra fired
Mukesh Chhabra is the latest to get embroiled in India’s #Metoo movement which has been gaining traction, with several women calling out powerful men in government, Bollywood and the media
Fox Star Studios on Friday sacked a Bollywood director working on a Hindi-language remake of hit US film “The Fault In Our Stars” after he was accused of sexual harassment by two women.
Mukesh Chhabra is the latest to get embroiled in India’s #Metoo movement which has been gaining traction, with several women calling out powerful men in government, Bollywood and the media.
Fox Star Studios, a joint venture between Fox and Star India, said Chhabra had been asked to exit the project as it “takes allegations of sexual harassment of women at workplace very seriously.”
An internal complaints committee would look into the allegations against Chhabra, it said in a statement on Twitter. Two women have accused Chhabra of sexual harassment during auditions, according to the local media, both anonymously.
“He (Chhabra) asked me to enact a scene which had the hero and the heroine hugging each other,” one of the unnamed women was quoted as saying.
“Under the pretext of showing me how the scene should be performed, he grabbed me hard and felt me up. I could feel his hand on my butt.”
The other woman, also anonymous, told a newspaper that she has a recording of a phone call with him in which he said she would “have to compromise, get physical with people in power.”
The film, starring Sushant Singh Rajput and Sanjana Sanghi, was supposed to be the directorial debut for Chhabra, who was previously a casting director.
Chhabra has denied the “unsubstantiated wild anonymous allegations.”
India’s belated #MeToo movement has made headlines in recent weeks with women sharing accounts of alleged harassment on Twitter.
