Actor Tanushree Dutta recently spoke up about being sexually harassed on the sets of Horn OK Please. On Monday, she named actor Nana Patekar as the alleged harasser. Now, journalist Janice Sequeira and assistant director of the film, Shyni Shetty have also chimed in with her claims and said that they were at the film’s sets when the entire episode unfolded 10 years ago.
In a thread of tweets, Janice Sequeira said, “Some incidents that take place even a decade ago remain fresh in your memory. What happened with #TanushreeDutta on the sets of “Horn Ok Please” is one such incident – I was there.” Janice wrote that she was on the sets to cover behind-the-scenes aspect of the song. When she arrived on sets, she was told the shooting has been stalled because of Tanushree and she was being difficult. She wrote, I could see Tanushree on set, visibly upset about something. #NanaPatekar, choreographer Ganesh Acharya and a man (who I later found was the producer) were having a conversation, while 50-odd dancers sat waiting. The official version was that the “heroine was not cooperating”, A while later, shooting resumed. Tanushree resumed work, and a couple shots later, #NanaPatekar joined her. Not long after that, Tanushree walked off set. Shooting halted again. She locked herself in her vanity van, refusing to come out.”
She furthur alleged that “Out of nowhere, goons turned up and began banging against the vanity van door. I was told the producers had called them to set. Cops arrived. Amidst this chaos, I got hold of #NanaPatekar. All he said was, “Meri beti jaisi hai”, which didn’t really make any sense at that point. Eventually, Tanushree’s parents arrived to pick her up. Her car was attacked, the windshield broken. I tried to get in touch with Tanushree to get her version of events. Around midnight, she asked me to come to her place. In tears, she narrated what really happened. #NanaPatekar.”
She added, “Tanushree told me that after three days of rehearsals, Ganesh Acharya changed every step on the day of shoot. #NanaPatekar was never meant to be part of the choreography, but coerced the producers into getting him to shake a leg with Dutta. Later, she said, a lewd dance step was introduced on the insistence of #NanaPatekar, so he could touch her inappropriately. That’s where alarm bells rang, and Tanushree decided to walk off set. What she didn’t expect was the aggression shown by the producers after. The chat I had with Dutta hours after the incident was identical to the account she’s come out with now. How could a person’s version remain the same a decade later if there wasn’t any truth to it?”
She stood up for Tanushree and wrote, “For anyone who’s either going to be ignoring or downplaying Dutta’s account as a desperate call for attention and question why she didn’t speak out earlier – she did. Interviews by Dutta were followed by a press conference by #NanaPatekar where she was branded “unprofessional”.
She furthur applauded Dutta and encouraged other women to speak up as well and wrote, “We all know there are hundreds and thousands of women who are too afraid to speak out against sexual assault and misconduct, lest they be called “unprofessional”. They will only speak up if we appreciate – even laud – the courage of #TanushreeDutta, and not look the other way.”
This incident is taking everybody in Bollywood by storm and a lot of other celebrities like Priyanka Chopra, Farhan Akhtar, Sonam Kapoor and more have come out in support of the actress.
Also read: Bollywood comes out in support of Tanushree Dutta