Bollywood's #MeToo? Patekar laughs off Tanushree's harassment claim
September 27, 2018 23:33
The debate over what is being seen as Bollywood's #MeToo moment snowballed Thursday as Tanushree Dutta reiterated her claim that Nana Patekar had harassed her on the sets of a film in 2008 and the veteran actor laughed off her allegation, asking what he could do about it.
A day after Dutta reopened the window on the 10-year-old incident and specifically named Patekar, there was a furious discussion on social media platforms and other media outlets but the film industry itself was mostly silent.
Patekar dismissed Dutta's claim that he had misbehaved with her on the sets of "Horn Ok Pleassss" in 2008.
In a telephonic conversation with Mirror Now, the 67-year-old actor said he would see if he could take any legal step.
"What can I do about it? Tell me? How would I know?" he asked with a laugh.
"What does she mean by sexual harassment? There are 50-100 people on the sets with me. Will see what I can do legally," Patekar can be heard saying in Marathi in the audio available on the channel's official Twitter account.
Such behaviour, he added, could not have gone unnoticed in a film set with "50-100" people.
Rakesh Sarang, director of Horn Ok Pleassss, backed Patekar.
"She misunderstood the enthusiasm of Mr Patekar. There were so many people on the sets. If somebody wanted to do it, why do it in front of everyone?" Sarang told PTI.
Dutta, who said she had spoken about her ordeal in 2008 as well, described Patekar's response as a "fear and intimidation tactic".
Patekar was "repeating the mistake" that got him into trouble, she said.
"I don't even consider him worth commenting on... Dismissing a woman's claim, dismissing her completely. It is fear and intimidation tactic. This attitude to laugh it off, I think he will face a severe backlash. I can see through everything he is trying to do. That is sad," the actor, who is now based in the US, told PTI.
Asked about the issue that was trending on social media and was the subject of many discussions all over, Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan evaded a direct answer.
"My name is not Tanushree and my name is not Nana Patekar," Bachchan, who shared screen space with Patekar in Kohram in 1999, said when asked to react to Dutta's allegations.
Khan said it would not be right for him to comment but "whenever something like this does happens it is really a sad thing".
The two stars were speaking at the trailer launch of their upcoming film Thugs of Hindostan.
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