In 2011, actress Payal Rohatgi had accused director Dibankar Banerjee of sexually harassing her on the pretext of giving her a role in his movie Shanghai. Payal alleged that Dibankar asked her to lift her skirt and show her stomach.
She had even approached the press but no action was taken at that time. Since the #MeToo movement has gained momentum, the actress has asked Yash Raj Films to take action against him.
Dibakar is helming Yash Raj’s upcoming movie ‘Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar’ which stars Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra.
Payal opened up in an interview with Mid-day and said, “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 will take a stand. YRF knows about Dibakar.”
She further added, “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.”
Also read:#MeToo: Anu Malik quits Indian Idol after sexual harassment allegations