Several alleged sexual offenders - including directors Sajid Khan, Subhash Kapoor, Indian Idol judge Anu Malik and actor Nana Patekar - were recently suspended from their respective professional assignments after survivors levelled sexual harassment charges against them.
However, actor Payal Rohatgi, who had accused 'Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar' director Dibakar Banerjee of sexual misconduct in 2011, is highly skeptical whether Yash Raj Films will follow suit.
"Dibakar did six films after that. He doesn't look like a villain, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he used his sob story of a bad marriage to make a move. I didn't file an FIR against him because I was intimidated. In the wake of #MeToo, I hope things will be different. I don't know if YRF [Yash Raj Films, producer of Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar] will take a stand. YRF knows about Dibakar," Payal told Mid Day.
For the uninitiated, the actor had alleged that Banerjee had asked her to "lift my shirt and show him my stomach." She had claimed that he had tried to take advantage of her in lieu of offering a role in one of his movies.
Payal says she was punished by the industry for speaking up. "I was working opposite actors like Irrfan and Paresh Rawal. But after I held the press conference, no one called me for an audition again. I stopped getting films. So I had to move to television. I kept myself alive with stage shows. It was a case of one brother backing another. According to Anurag [Kashyap], I was having an affair with Dibakar. But if I were hypothetically having an affair, that still doesn't make Dibakar right; he was married at that time," she added.
She doesn't intend to pursue the case ahead. "I don't want to put Sangram [Singh, fiance] and my family through the earlier turmoil. I have moved on."
Recently, Yash Raj Films sacked their Talent and Business Head Ashish Patil, after sexual harassment allegations levelled against him.
It remains to be seen whether the studio head Aditya Chopra will take action against him.
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 "Aditya Chopra, Payal Rohatgi, Dibakar Banerjee")
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