Now it’s Rohit Roy, more heat on Alok

More allegations against Bollywood stars continued to pour in on Wednesday with actress Sandhya Mridul levelling charges against Alok Nath and her also sounding a note of caution against levelling fake charges  and thereby diluting the impact of #MeToo.

“Dear women. I’m requesting you all .. please do not make false allegations and derail what is an extremely crucial movement. Please. Just the truth. No personal agenda. No lies that disempower the truthful. Thank you. Much love,” she wrote on Twitter.

Mridul joined script writer Vinta Nanda, who had revealed how Nath had raped her two decades ago. She said that Nath had harassed her while they were working in Kodaikanal on a teleplay in the 1990s.

A fresh face to join the list of those accused is Rohit Roy. A woman on Twitter said that Roy sent her suggestive messages when she was 16. “He’s harassed me on several occasions since, trying to get me to kiss him. Including when his wife (was) in the next room,” she wrote.

Singer Sona Mahapatra accused singer Kailash Kher of sexual harassment as well in a Twitter post. She said, “I met Kailash for coffee in Prithvi Café to discuss a forthcoming concert where both our bands were playing & after the usual, a hand on my thigh with lines like, ‘you are so beautiful, feel so good that a musician got you (Ram) not an actor. I left not soon after.” She is among five women who have accused him of touching them inappropriately or making lewd comments.

Meanwhile singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya, who was accused by a flight attendant, hit back saying he doesn’t know the people who charged him. In fact, he embodied the medieval marauder syndrome by saying, “All these (women) are retired and aged people. Those who have never seen success in their lives and are supposed to be husband-beaters, men beaters and most frustrated persons are making up such stories.”

Meanwhile, the negative sentiment against filmmaker Vikas Bahl heated up with actor Imran Khan opening up about how three actresses had confided in him about the director. “I have heard his stories from three other actresses. Ranging from inappropriate touching to straight up saying that if you were cast in the film, what will I get in return,” he said. Imran said that he was earlier advised against speaking about sexual harassment in the industry.

Another woman accused actor Rajat Kapoor today for inappropriate behaviour. Journalist Sandhya Menon shared the incident that the woman, who remains anonymous, faced. Kapoor called her a ‘little bitch’ and insisted that he be called ‘master’. The industry has also taken action against him by dropping his film from Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI) film festival. Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap dropped out as a board member from the film festival for remaining silent against complaints about Bahl. He is also facing a lawsuit from Bahl for defamation.

Actress Amyra Dastur said she has been a victim of “harassment” at the hands of “men and women” but doesn’t have the guts to name and shame them.

The 25-year-old, however, added that while she has not faced casting couch in the south or Bollywood, she faced her share of harassment in both industries. “I don’t have the guts to name them because they are powerful people,” she said.