Bollywood reacts to sexual harassment allegations against Nana Patekar

Photo: AFP

KARACHI: After Tanushree Dutta’s recent allegations of sexual assault against Nana Patekar, several Bollywood stars have spoken up for the actor.

In the interview, Dutta revealed she was sexually harassed on the sets of Horn Ok Please in 2008, where she was supposed to perform a dance sequence alongside her then co-star Patekar. After protesting against his behaviour and refusing to continue with the shoot, Dutta was allegedly attacked by goons whom she claims were called in by Patekar.

Read: Nana Patekhar accused of sexual harassment by co-star

Many Bollywood bigwigs have come commented on the incident. Here’s what the stars have said so far:

Bollywood’s leading ladies Priyanka Chopra, Sonam Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra and Swara Bhaskar have all lent their support to Dutta.

Comedian Vir Das and Rang De Basanti star Siddharth both urged others to listen to victims before passing judgements.

Women from the older generation of Bollywood, Raveena Tandon and Twinkle Khanna, also weighed in on the matter.

However, the biggest disappointment came in the shape of Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan who were asked to comment on matter during a press conference for their upcoming film Thugs of Hindustan. Bachchan said his name is “neither Tanushree nor Nana so how can I answer this question.”

Khan also didn’t take a stronger stance on the topic. “Without knowing the veracity or the details of something, I don’t think I can comment on it. It’ not right for me to either way comment on it. I just want to say that whenever something like this does happen, it’s a really sad thing. Now whether this has happened, that’s for people to investigate. I don’t think we can comment on that.”

Bachchan and Khan have both been vocal about women empowerment in the past when Bachchan’s film Pink was in the cinemas and when Khan was doing his socio-political show Satyamev Jayate.

Even Salman Khan dodged the question and refused to make a sensible comment, but keeping his troublesome past in mind, we hardly expected better.