Me Too Movement in India: Vikas Bahl, Nana Patekar, Alok Nath; 8 Indian celebs accused of sexual harassment

Finally the long silence against prolonged sexual harassment breaks. From Bollywood actresses to journalists, everyone is speaking out their horrifying experience and are publicly revealing about celebrities who asked for sexual favours. A year ago, Hollywood experienced its #metoo moment after Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual harassment. Now, India is experiencing its own #metoo movement and it all started after Tanushree Dutta’s shocking revelations against veteran actor Nana Patekar.

Many stars came to Mumbai in search of their Bollywood dream but ended up experiencing nightmares. India is currently witnessing a massive awakening with several women coming out publicly and calling out their sexual offenders, mainly from the media and film industry. From director Vikas Bahl to sanskari babuji Alok Nath; many have been accused of sexual harassment. Here’s the list of Indian celebs who have been accused as part of the #MeToo campaign:

Nana Patekar: Former Miss India Tanushree Dutta initiated Me Too movement in India after she revealed her traumatizing harassment experience once again after 10 years. The actress accused veteran actor Nana Patekar, dance choreographer Ganesh Acharya and director Vivek Agnihotri of sexual harassment on the sets of films Horn Ok Please and Chocolate, respectively. Yesterday, Nana Patekar addressed the media over Tanushree Dutta sexual harassment claims. He said, “What the truth was 10 years ago remains the same today and will continue to be tomorrow as well. My lawyer has advised me not to speak on the matter. Hence, I am silent. Otherwise, I would have no issues talking to the press.”

Vivek Agnihotri: Tanushree has also accused director Vivek Agnihotri of film Chocolate for harassing her during the initial years of her career. In a media interaction on 27 September, the Aashiq Banaya Aapne actress alleged that Vivek told her, 'Kapde utaar ke naacho'.

Vikas Bahl: A former young woman working at Phantom Films had alleged that she was molested by Vikas Bahl, director of the much-acclaimed movie Queen, during a trip to Goa. This incident happened ahead of the release of Bombay Velvet in the year 2015. Even, Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut had agreed and accused him of molesting her too. 

Utsav Chakraborty: Utsav Chakraborty, a comedian who has featured in many AIB videos has been accused by many women over the last few days of sending them sexually explicit photos. It also came to light that AIB co-founder Tanmay Bhat knew about one such incident. AIB still continued to work with Utsav. Later, AIB apologized for not reaching out to help the girl. Yesterday, AIB released an official statement where the Head HR has mentioned that Tanmay Bhat will not be involved in the day to day functioning of the company. Gursimran Khamba has also been asked to take an extended leave. 

Chetan Bhagat: Author Chetan Bhagat was recently accused of sexual misconduct by a woman journalist to which he had issued a public apology. A tweet which showcased screengrabs of the author’s conversation with an unnamed journalist shows the author writing that he wants to woo her and ignores her that he is married. His apology to the scribe and his wife, Anushka came after the tweet went viral on social media.

Rajat Kapoor: A journalist shared that during a telephonic interview with Rajat, he asked the journalist if she is as sexy as she sounds. The journalist also revealed that he asked for her viral stats and asked her if she comes to Mumbai. After the journalist's allegations, Rajat Kapoor apologised on Twitter. The actor tweeted, "All my life I have tried to be a decent man, to do the right thing. If however, I have slipped and through my actions or words caused pain or hurt or trauma to absolutely anybody, please accept my apology."

Filmmaker Rajat Kapoor

Kailash Kher: Two female journalists accused Kailash Kher of sexual harassment. Photojournalist, Natasha Hemrajani accused Kailash Kher of touching her inappropriately when she had gone over to his Mumbai residence to click some pictures, along with another female colleague. Kher sat between the two women and touched them repeatedly during the course of the interaction, which led to the two women leaving shortly. The incident took place in 2006.

Alok Nath: This was a true shocker. In a shocking Facebook post, writer and producer of the popular TV serial in the 90’s Tara, Vinta Nanda spoken out against the sexual misconduct of the lead actor of the show. . She also shared that how the lead actor was alcoholic and messed around with the female lead of the show. Vinta Nanda also accused him of touching the lead actress inappropriately. The writer of the show alleges that she was raped while returning home from his party. Vinta does not name anyone in the post but writes “the predator in question here is the actor par excellence who is known as the most Sanskaari person in the film and television industry”. In fact, many celebrities have expressed their anger and disgust. Richa Chadha, Swara Bhasker, Mallika Dua, Mini Mathur among others took to social media and reacted to these allegations by Vinta Nanda against Alok Nath. Read out the full post below: