After allegations of sexual harassment surfaced against Bollywood filmmaker Sajid Khan, actor Dia Mirza, who made a cameo appearance in his 2007 film Heyy Babyy, expressed her shock over the reports.
According to Mirza, Khan was “obnoxious, extremely sexist and ridiculous”, however, she’s “deeply disturbed” as she didn’t expect him to have sexually harassed women. Speaking about the allegations in an interview with India Today, she said, “We often brush off certain kind of behaviour. But I wouldn’t have imagined that Sajid could be capable of doing this to a woman. I completely understand the shock people are feeling right now, but it would be unfair to say that the names that are coming out is shocking.”
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Mirza also said that she has always had a “radar” for such people. She said, “Fortunately, I have never been a victim of sexual harassment. But there have been instances where I have lost out on work or people have shown disinterest in working with me because I was unwilling to succumb to this unspoken understanding of patriarchy.”
Recently, actor Bipasha Basu, who worked with the filmmaker on his 2014 film Humshakals, spoke about Khan’s inappropriate behaviour in a series of tweets:
I am glad that women are speaking up about the atrocities of these men with power and clout… but nothing of that sort happened with me…it was just his general attitude toward women that would disturb me on set- he cracked lewd jokes openly and was pretty rude to all girls .
— Bipasha Basu (@bipsluvurself) October 12, 2018
I was told by all nt 2 say anything 2 him n stoop to his level- so I quietly finished my work as a professional and explained my stance to the producers .. that I couldnt associate myself with this film anymore as I could lose my temper any moment.
— Bipasha Basu (@bipsluvurself) October 12, 2018
He never tried anything with me… otherwise I would have spoken in 2014 only. I have a very strong voice.Will never tolerate disrespect.
— Bipasha Basu (@bipsluvurself) October 12, 2018
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Khan has been accused of sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour by at least four women: assistant director Saloni Chopra, journalist Karishma Upadhyay, and actors Rachel White and Simran Soni. Khan is one of the biggest names to have emerged out of the current #MeToo movement that has hit Bollywood among others such as Subhash Ghai, Alok Nath, Vikas Bahl, Nana Patekar, Kailash Kher, et al. Bollywood’s #MeToo moment came with the resurgence of Tanushree Dutta’s allegations of sexual harassment against Patekar during a shoot in 2008. Actor Raveena Tandon was one of the first celebrities to come to Dutta’s support, and the ensuing encouragement sparked a deluge of #MeToo accounts,
Since the allegations, Khan has been replaced by Farhad Samji as the director of Housefull 4. Incidentally, Akshay Kumar, who is one of the lead actors of the movie, has asked the producers to stall filming “until further investigation” amid allegations of sexual harassment against Patekar, who also stars in the movie.
— Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) October 12, 2018
