The “Me too” movement left the reputations of three more film personalities Sajid Khan, Subhash Ghai and Luv Ranjan in tatters and the shooting of film "Housefull 4" came to be cancelled on Friday, even as leading actors Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn and Farhan Akthar threw their weight behind the victim women.
Facing sexual harassment charge, Ghai appeared to be in a denial mode, while Sajid Khan took “moral responsibility” for his alleged misbeahviour with women and quit as the director of Housefull 4 — which is the fourth installment of the highly-successful Housefull comedy series produced by Sajid Nadiadwala. However, there was no official word from Ranjan.
"In the wake of the allegations against me and the pressure being put on my family, my producer and the stars of my film 'Housefull 4', I must take the moral responsibility of stepping down from my directorial post, till the time I can allay the allegations and prove the truth.. Request my friends in the media to kindly not pass judgment till the truth is out," Sajid tweeted.
Sajid Khan faces charges of sexual harassment from actress Saloni Chopra and journalist Karishma Upadhyay.
Earlier, yesteryear actress and author Twinkle Khanna set the ball rolling, by tweeting: “Appalled hearing multiple incidents of harassment and it is truly horrific to hear what these women have been through. Everyone involved in Housefull needs to take a firm stance on this issue. This cannot go on”.
Twinkle’s actor-husband Akshay Kumar tweeted minutes later: “I’ve just landed back in the country last night and reading all the news has been disturbing. I’ve requested the producers of Houseful 4 to cancel the shoot until further investigation. This is something that requires stringent action. I will not work with any proven offenders and all those who have been subjugated to harassment should be heard and given justice they deserve”.
Akshay Kumar plays the lead role in “Housefull 4” which also features Nana Patekar, against whom actress Tanushree Dutta has made sexual harassment charge.
Much to the discomfort of Sajid, his filmmaker-choreographer sister Farah Khan and cousin-actor Farhan Akthar distanced themselves from him.
“This is a heartbreaking time for my family. We have to work through some very difficult issues. If my brother has behaved in this manner he has a lot to atone for. I don’t in any way endorse this behavior and Stand in solidarity with any woman who has been hurt,” Farah tweeted.
Farhan was in no mood to spare Sajid. "I cannot adequately stress how shocked, disappointed and heartbroken I am to read the stories about Sajid’s behaviour. I don’t know how but he will have to find a way to atone for his alleged actions, " he tweeted.
“Let there be no confusion about whether I stand in solidarity with the women who have spoken up. I absolutely do,” Farhan added.
Expressing his shock over the “Me Too”-related developments in Bollywood, Ajay Devgn tweeted: “I’m disturbed by all the happenings with regards to Me Too. My company and I believe in providing women with utmost respect and safety. If anyone has wronged even a single woman, neither ADF nor I will stand for it.
Meanwhile, Subhash Ghai – who has been accused by a twitter user of raping a woman known to her after spiking her drink – had on Thursday night issued a statement denying the charge against him. “"It is sad that it is becoming a fashion to malign anyone known, bringing some stories from past without any truth or blown up false allegations if all. I deny strictly and firmly all false allegations like these," Ghai had said.
Ghai also said that he would sue the survivor for defamation if she could not prove her allegations. "If she claims this way, she should go to the court of law and prove it. Justice will be done or I will go for defamation certainly," Ghai had said.
On Friday, Ghai tweeted: “Destiny shows u good times bad times-I m deeply pained 2b gripped in this movement but thank those who know me n my respect I shower to women n their dignity in spite of our cosmetic world we live n react more thru our love affection n respect Now seen in different perspectives”.
Earlier on Wednesday, actor Aamir Khan and wife Kiran Rao had put a statement that they ““are committed to doing any and everything to make our film industry a safe and happy one to work in”.
Aamir Khan, who was to co-produce Subhash Kapoor’s directorial Mogul, a biopic of Gulshan Kumar, has disassociated from this film. Kapoor had earlier this week been accused of sexual assault by actress Geetika Tyagi. The film was to be being produced by T-Series.
In their joint statement, Aamir and Kiran said: “As creative people we have been committed to foregrounding and finding solutions to social issues, and at Aamir Khan Productions we have always had a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual misconduct and predatory behaviour of any kind. We strongly condemn any act of sexual harassment, and equally we condemn any and all false accusations in such cases.
“Two weeks ago, when traumatic #MeToo stories began emerging, it was brought to our attention that someone we were about to begin work with has been accused of sexual misconduct. Upon enquiry we found that this particular case is sub judice, and that the legal process is in motion,” they said.
“We are not an investigative agency, nor are we in any position to pass judgement on anyone – that is for the police and judiciary to do. So, without casting any aspersions on anyone involved in this case, and without coming to any conclusions about these specific allegations, we have decided to step away from this film,” Aamir and Kiran added.
