Tanushree Dutta has taken her case to the police and lodged a proper criticism in opposition to Nana Patekar, police instructed AFP Sunday.
The Indian actress, whose public allegations of se**xual harassment by Patekar is sparking a string of comparable #MeToo, first alleged in 2008 that her Horn Okay Pleassss co-star behaved inappr**opriately in the direction of her in the course of the movie’s music sequence.
No motion was taken on the time in opposition to Patekar and she or he made no formal criticism.
However emboldened by the worldwide #MeToo marketing campaign — the place ladies have shared accounts of harassment or assault — Dutta repeated the allegations in a latest interview and on Saturday went to the police to formally report the 2008 se**xual harassment claims.
“Dutta visited the police station final night time and submitted a written criticism,” Shailesh Pasalwar, a Mumbai police inspector, instructed AFP.
Reportedly, she has additionally additionally listed names of choreographer Ganesh Acharya, producer Sameer Siddiqui and director Rakesh Sarang within the criticism.
“We’re investigating the case however proper now, it’s not an FIR (First Data Report, or a proper investigation) however a written criticism about harassment incident,” he added.
The previous Miss Universe contestant additionally alleged within the interview that filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri had behaved inappr**opriately in the direction of her in the course of the taking pictures of the 2005 film Chocolate: Deep Darkish Secrets and techniques.
The actress stated in a press release final week that she had obtained authorized notices from each Patekar and Agnihotri, who deny her accusations.
Dutta stated she had additionally obtained “violent threats” from the perimeter, far-right nationalist group Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and has been hounded by a “smear marketing campaign” on social media since reiterating her claims in opposition to the pair.
“That is the age-old saga of survivors in our nation,” she stated.
India has but to witness its personal model of the #MeToo motion that rocked Hollywood final 12 months, however Dutta has obtained the backing of a number of high-profile stars together with Priyanka Chopra, Farhan Akhtar and Sonam Kapoor.
Different actresses have nevertheless begun to talk out about a problem nearly by no means mentioned in Indian media.
In December, star Swara Bhaskar stated she had been harassed by an unnamed director early in her profession.
Bhaskar additionally referred to a “casting sofa” tradition the place younger ladies are anticipated to alternate se**xual favours to safe movie roles. Bollywood’s cliquey nature additionally made it tough to go public, she stated.
In latest days, #MeToo claims have additionally begun to floor in opposition to males in different sectors, together with a number of prime Indian newspaper editors, comedians and writers together with a top-selling English language writer.