On Sunday afternoon another big name from the Bollywood came under #MeToo movement. Filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani has been accused of sexual harassment by a woman who worked with him.
The woman alleged that Rajkumar Hirani sexually abused her on multiple occasions during the six-month period between March and September 2018, according to Huffington Post.
The woman has sent an email dated 3 November 2018, addressing co-producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Anupama Chopra, Shelly Chopra and scriptwriter Abhijat Joshi – all of whom were associated with the film Sanju, which was then in post-production phase.
In her email, the woman mentioned that Rajkumar Hirani first made a sexually suggestive remark to her on 9 April 2018, and also sexually assaulted her at his home-office.
She wrote, “I remember forming these words on my lips – “Sir. This is wrong…Because of this power structure. You being the absolute power and me being a mere assistant, a nobody – I will never be able to express myself to you. My mind, body and heart were grossly violated that night and for the next 6 months.”
The woman, who is around 30 years younger than Hirani, spoke to Huffington Post. She said that she could not raise her voice that time because she was afraid of losing her job.
“I had no choice but to be polite to him. It was unbearable but the reason I endured it all, until I couldn’t, was because I didn’t want my job to be taken away from me, and work to be questioned,” she was quoted as saying by Huffington Post.
On the other hand, Rajkumar Hirani has denied all the allegations through his lawyer Anand Desai. The lawyer spoke to publication saying, “At the outset, our client states that the allegations made against him are false, mischievous, scandalous, motivated and defamatory.”
While Vidhu Vinod Chopra didn’t responded to the allegations made on Hirani, his wife Anupama Chopra confirmed in an email that the woman had told her story to them and they had assured her of full support.
Speaking to the publication, Anupama said, “I have met the complainant twice. Both times, I have offered my full support and recommended that she take the complaint to a legal body or a neutral party since we cannot be arbitrators or judges on this. We also offered to set up an ICC at VCF (which we have set up since then) even though a VCF ICC could not have taken up the case since she was an RHF (Rajkumar Hirani Films) employee at the time. These are two separate companies. She stayed at our house for two nights. We also provided the number of an expert on the issue so she could talk to a professional. She said she needed time to think through how she will take it forward. I did not want in any way to pressurise her or steer her in any direction. As Vinod and I told her then, she has our full support and we are fully respectful of whatever decision she has taken.”
Two days ago, Rajkumar Hirani’s name was dropped from the posters of the upcoming film Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga.