Flora Saini expresses gratitute towards Aishwarya Rai Bachchan for believing her when no one else did
Flora Saini (also known as her screen name Asha Saini), who played the ghost in Rajkummar Rao-Shraddha Kapoor's 'Stree', recently came out on social media to share her personal account of abuse and harassment at the hands of 'Aankhen' producer Gaurang Doshi, who was her boyfriend at one point of time.
Sharing old pictures of herself, Flora wrote, "That's me.. Valentine's day 2007 beaten up by a known producer "Gaurang Doshi' who I loved n was dating then .. this was the last of the one year abuse I took..came out with a fractured jaw n a scarred soul for life..I realised me talking about it ,that time, jus went against me ,cos he was the powerful one n nobody wanted to believe some girl who was relatively new in the industry, it was his word against mine ,and of course, his word mattered."
"He threatened me that he will make sure I never work in the industry again n much more.. n he did his best to make me believe it too.. I was replaced in films, people didn't quiet wanna even meet me or let me audition."
"I thot I made a mistake, I shud have jus kept quiet ..I wanted to runaway, hide n be somewhere where people didn't look at me with judging eyes n cud only jus give me work.. n not judge me by the abuse I suffered at the hands of gaurang doshi with no fault of mine."
"N mind u there were girls after me who were made to suffer the same way by the same man, they called me for help but weren't brave enuf to even come out n speak for themselves.[sic]"
While speaking to BollywoodLife.com, the actress recalled how no one from the film industry came out to support her, except for Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
"That time when I spoke, I felt I made a huge mistake. Nobody was giving me work. I’m the only breadwinner of my family and it became very difficult. No support! The only person to support me (then) was Aishwarya Rai and I thank her from the bottom of my heart. She had signed a film with Gaurang and she walked out of it. In an interview she said, 'I refuse to work with a woman beater.' When the world was against me, there was one woman, who supported me. Who leaves work? When she did that for me, there was some hope restored in me. It’s too little a thing for her probably, she won’t even remember. I love her so much for that," Flora said.
Read the full Facebook post here -
Flora salutes the survivors who are now coming forward to tell their stories. Lauding all those who are speaking up against harassment, she wrote, "u guys make me so proud to b a woman in this industry today where our voice is being heard where people are not judging us for speaking out against an abuser.. they r actually coming together to make the work space safe for us even more.. to all the people who are standing up to talk n all those who standing up to support..
I bow to you.. ur my SUPERHERO's & Trust me ..THE WORLD NEEDS MORE OF U. [sic]"
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 "Flora Saini expresses gratitude towards Aishwarya Rai Bachchan")
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