MUMBAI – Nana Patekar has broken his silence about the recent accusations of sexual harassment leveled against him by actor Tanushree Dutta. While having a chitchat with a local media person, the actor laughed when questioned about the allegations and asked, “What does she mean by sexual harassment? We were on the set and there were 200 people sitting in front of us.”
Asked if he will take any legal action, the veteran actor said, “I will see what can be done legally. Let’s see. It is also wrong/inappropriate to talk to you (media) since you publish anything.” Nana further said that: “Let anyone say anything. I will continue to do in my life what I have been doing.”
Aashiq Baneya Apnay actor Tanushree had alleged in a recent interview that Nana Patekar, a Padma Shri, and National Award-winning actor, had behaved inappropriately towards her during the shooting of a song for 2008’s Horn OK Pleassss.
While having a talk with Zoom TV, Dutta had stated that “Everyone knows about Nana Patekar that he has always been disrespectful towards women. People in the industry know about his background… that he has beaten actresses, he has molested them, his behavior with women has always been crude but no publication has printed anything about it”.
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Patekar, who had remained unavailable for comment since the news broke, told Mirror Now, “What can I do about it? You tell me,” and contemplated taking legal action.
“He misbehaved on the sets. He was being aggressive and was pushing me around. I complained about him, but it was not heard. They (film crew) were forcing me to do an intimate step.
She further stated that “My contract stated that it was a solo dance sequence, and it was not supposed to be a duet. It was a way to manipulate me. This was the whole harassment situation going on,” she said in an interview.
The film’s choreographer, Ganesh Acharya, had spoken up in defense of Patekar. “He’s a very sweet person, he can never do that. He is very helpful and he has actually helped a lot of artists in the industry, he can never do anything like that.”
He also added that he doesn’t remember what happened that day as the incident is from 10 years ago. “When I was called for rehearsal I was told that Nana Ji was also there in the song. I don’t have the agreement with me because at that time we used to do it verbally. But that particular song didn’t involve any kind of indecent step in the first place. It was pure dancing. That’s all,” stated Ganesh.
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Tanushree in response called Ganesh ‘a bloody liar’ for being complicit in her abuse. Meanwhile, stars Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan have weighed in on the controversy after they were asked about it at the trailer launch event for their new film, Thugs of Hindostan.
“Neither my name is Tanushree nor Nana Patekar. So, how can I answer your question?” said Amitabh, while Aamir said, “Without knowing the veracity of something, it’s not right for me to comment on it. But whenever something like this does happen, it’s a sad thing. Whether this has happened, that is for people to investigate it.”
Tanushree, who was in the USA for the past few years, has ruled out a Bollywood comeback.
