Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; September 28, 2018)

Former beauty queen and actress Tanushree Dutta came to India on a holiday, but it turned into a nightmarish stay. Memories of an incident that occurred in 2008, and one that has left her devastated, came back to haunt her. A few days ago, while talking to a channel, she mentioned that India is miles away from its #MeToo campaign because here, no one here supports the victim. She alleged that she was harassed while filming a song for Horn Ok Pleasss by Nana Patekar. She also accused choreographer Ganesh Acharya for introducing lewd dance moves at the actor’s behest.

Slamming Nana Patekar and his supporters, the actress says, “From the moment I landed in India (she has been living in the US for the last two years), I fielded speculations about why I was away from the industry and whether I was kicked out for my unprofessional behaviour 10 years ago. This web of lies has been spun over the last decade. I had to set the record straight, though it has shaken up my parents, who were in the car with me when it was vandalised on the set. The memories have come rolling back to them. I could have quietly come here and left, but I didn’t want this narrative to become a gospel truth. I am now settled in the US and I have a life there. My job prospects get affected because of the results the internet throws up. A web of lies woven by these people has come back to hound me, right when I was at the brink of getting my dream job in Manhattan. Enough is enough!”

When asked why she had been quiet for so long, she says, “It’s not like I am speaking up only today. I spoke about it back then, and I also spoke about it several times in the last ten years. There are footages in media archives that will corroborate my version, but no one believed me then, no one stood up for me then and no one is doing that even today. However, my narrative hasn’t changed at all, because it is the truth. I was harassed by Nana Patekar and the goons who he summoned on the set. They labelled me unprofessional to hide their misdoings. I had to set the record straight. My spiritual leanings helped me heal from this episode.”

She asserts that the #MeToo campaign may never lift its head in India. “People got away by harassing me and by showing medieval behaviour in the public eye in a big city, and none of it made a difference to anyone. I was never a damsel in distress, but agar aisa harassment ho sakta hai kisi ke saath, toh #MeToo kaise hoga? India, as a country and society, has learnt to wear fancy brands, but the soul is still misogynistic and hypocritical. It’s easy to pick up words from the West and hashtag them, but do you have the integrity to speak up when there is a need?”

Ganesh Acharya, while talking to BT, has denied each one of Tanushree’s claims, including the one about Nana asking for lewd dance moves to be included in the song. “Who cares for what they say? There are witnesses to the incident that I am talking about and I don’t need to bluff. It’s too uncomfortable for people to admit there is a problem within the society. If a case of harassment is not being addressed, then what is the hope for any other movement?” she argues.

When asked if she ever tried approaching the Women’s Commission or any other body for help, Tanushree says, “I didn’t approach anyone, because even a basic FIR that I filed didn’t get its due response. Before I could reach the cops, they had filed a counter FIR. Eventually, my entourage members were harassed periodically for many years, before my parents decided to drop the case completely. We were waiting for the law to take its course. My parents have also been in and out of the police station. While my folks were going through all that, Nana and Ganesh continued to work, which was appalling. Do you think that could have helped me sustain in the industry? It doesn’t matter what I did or didn’t do. The fact is that, they harassed me and no one is talking about it, even now.”

Tanushree believes that the incident destroyed her career at a time when she had 40 acting offers, none of which she accepted. “I was brought up by educated people and the mob attack threw me completely off. My perpetrators and even those who stayed mum about it, will pay for their sins eventually,” she says. “The reason I never got back to work is because I feared that if someone attacked me again and I complained, I would be labelled as the one who has a problem.”