Mandana Karimi recounts a 2014 meeting with the filmmaker, and working with Umesh Ghadge, who directed her in a 2016 project
As told to Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 13, 2018)

I was in talks for Sajid Khan’s (2014 film) Humshakals at the casting stage. My manager and I visited his office. After meeting producer Vashu Bhagnani, I was in a room with Sajid, when he said, “Lovely pictures but you need to remove your clothes. If I like what I see, you might get the part.” I laughed at the incident — Sajid was such a creep –when my manager pointed out that he was a big director. Be that as it may, you can’t abuse your power.

In 2016, I was shooting for Ekta Kapoor’s production Kya Kool Hain Hum 3, which was a dream come true. It was a big film for me, but I was made to feel miserable on the sets. The director, Umesh Ghadge, asked me out once and when I declined the offer, saying that I had a boyfriend — back then, I was dating my now ex-husband Gaurav Gupta – he made things difficult for me throughout the film’s Thailand schedule.

He’d keep me waiting on the sets and made fun of my dancing skills, saying that I couldn’t get the steps right as I’m not an Indian. I told Ekta about the problem and offered to return the money so that I could exit the project. She pulled him up, but he wasn’t fired. The harassment continued. Everyone on the sets knew what I was going through, but nobody said anything as they were afraid of losing their job. On the last day, everyone, from the makeup artists to spot boys, apologised to me.

(Mirror reached out to Sajid Khan and Umesh Ghadge, but they remained unavailable for comment)