Lipstick Under My Burkha actor Aahana Kumra has accused Bollywood director Sajid Khan of indecent behaviour. Her accusations come after four women accused him of sexual harassment last month as part of the #MeToo movement in India.
Aahana said in an interview to The Times of India that while Sajid never touched her, he did call her to his house and his room and asked her inappropriate questions. “I had a meeting with Sajid Khan about a year ago, knowing the fact that he is a shady guy. I met him and he did the same thing that Saloni (Chopra) has written about him. Same drill — you go to his house, you are escorted to his room which is pretty dark. He makes you watch what he’s watching,” she said.
Aahana says that she was assertive in how she responded to him and let him know that her mother was a police woman. “But he still asked me bizarre questions like, ‘Would you have sex with a dog if I gave you Rs 100 crores’? He didn’t touch me,” she added.
Sajid has been accused of sexual harassment by three actors and a journalist. He has since stepped down from his position as the director of Housefull 4. The film’s lead actor Akshay Kumar also tweeted that he would not work with ‘any proven offenders and all those who have been subjugated to harassment should be heard and given the justice they deserve’. The film’s shoot has also been suspended since.
In her interview, Aahana also accused casting director Anirban Blah of making sexual advances towards her. He has also been accused of sexual harassment by four women.
“Anirban Blah met me at the lobby of a five star hotel and said, ‘There’s a room here. Let’s negotiate there.’ I walked out of that meeting because I wasn’t comfortable. It didn’t go down well with me. That’s ‘normal’ conversation he has with women. The day I chatted with him, I was shaken,” she said.
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However, Aahana says the intention behind taking names isn’t to punish the perpetrators. “I read Anirban’s letter and I am glad that at least he accepted it,” she said. According to news reports, Anirban had tried to commit suicide after the accusations against him and even sent a suicide note to a journalist. “Without trying to justify any of my actions, I just want to say that I have tried to be the best person I can be. I didn’t have the strength to cope with what happened to me as a child in a healthy way. I never was able to separate sex from power, to make it a part of love, and somewhere along the way one part of me turned into a monster,” it had read.
The #MeToo movement in India was sparked by Tanushree Dutta’s allegations of sexual harassment against actor Nana Patekar. Subsequently, several women—actors, journalists and professionals—took to social media to talk about workplace harassment. Sajid Khan, Vikas Bahl, Subash Ghai, Rajat Kapoor, and many more were named as sexual harassers.