BOMBAY TIMES (January 14, 2019)

Director Rajkumar Hirani, who has made films like the Munna Bhai series, 3 Idiots, PK and Sanju, has been reportedly accused of sexually harassing a woman. She has alleged that the filmmaker sexually abused her on more than one occasion, over six months, between March and September 2018. A website has reported that the alleged incident took place during the post-production work on his last release, Sanju.

It’s learnt that the accuser in question sent out an email on November 3, 2018, addressing Rajkumar’s business associate, filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra, also marking Anupama Chopra (his wife), a Director with Vinod Chopra Films Pvt. Ltd, scriptwriter Abhijat Joshi, who has often collaborated with Hirani, and Shelly Chopra, the director of their upcoming film, Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga. Hirani’s lawyer has reportedly denied the allegations. The matter is being investigated.

The accusations have put considerable pressure on Chopra and Hirani’s partnership. While the June 27, 2018, teaser of Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga included Rajkumar Hirani Films as the co-producer, the trailer of the film, which released later on December 26, 2018, had no mention of him.
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MUMBAI MIRROR (January 14, 2019)

Rajkumar Hirani, one of Bollywood’s top filmmakers who has directed blockbusters like 3 Idiots, PK, and the Munna Bhai series, finds himself in the midst of the #MeToo storm with a woman he worked with accusing him of sexual abuse and harassment.

According to a report published by HuffPost India, the woman has alleged that she was targeted by Hirani while working on the Ranbir Kapoor-starrer, Sanju, last year. The assault allegedly took place on more than one occasion and continued over a six month period between March and September 2018 when post-production work on the film was in progress.

The complainant has levelled these allegations in an email, dated November 3, 2018, to Hirani’s Sanju co-producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra. She also marked the mail to Chopra’s wife and film journalist Anupama Chopra, Hirani’s co-writer Abhijat Joshi and Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s sister Shelly Chopra Dhar. Huffpost India also claimed to have verified the claims with the woman and her friends.

Hirani, on his part, refuted the allegations, calling them “false, malicious and mischievous”.

The HuffPost report says that the director “refused to answer any questions, but shared printouts of text messages and emails exchanged between him and the complainant over the course of six months, to claim that he had a normal professional relationship with the complainant.”

In response to queries sent by HuffPost India, Hirani’s lawyer Anand Desai replied on December 5, 2018, saying, “These communications establish that the allegations made against our client to you, that have given rise to your queries, are false and completely unjustified.”

Hirani also issued a statement on Sunday evening after the HuffPost article went viral.

“I was completely shocked when these allegations were brought to my notice about two months back. I had suggested immediately that it is essential to take this matter to any committee or any legal body. The complainant has chosen to go to the media instead. I want to very strongly state that this is a false, malicious and mischievous story being spread with the sole intention of destroying my reputation,” the statement read.

In her email to the Chopras, the woman claimed that Hirani first made a sexually suggestive remark to her on April 9, 2018, and then sexually assaulted her at his home-office.

She wrote: “I remember forming these words on my lips – ‘Sir. This is wrong... Because of this power structure. You being the absolute power and me being a mere assistant, a nobody — I will never be able to express myself to you’.”

The complainant further said that she always regarded Hirani as a “father figure” and that she was forced to maintain a facade of normalcy during work because her father is fighting a terminal illness and she could not give up her job. “If Hirani said I wasn’t good, my future would be in jeopardy,” she wrote in the email.

While Vidhu Vinod Chopra did not respond to the complainant’s allegations, his wife Anupama confirmed to HuffPost India that the woman had shared an account with her and Vinod Chopra Films (VCF) has since set up a committee to address complaints of sexual harassment.

“I’ve met the complainant twice. Both times, I have offered my full support and recommended that she take the complaint to a legal body or a neutral party since we cannot be arbitrators or judges on this. We also offered to set up an ICC (Internal Complaints Committee) at VCF (which we have set up since then) even though a VCF ICC could not have taken up the case since she was an RHF (Rajkumar Hirani Films) employee at the time. These are two separate companies,” Anupama was quoted as saying in the HuffPost report.

Anupama further added that the complainant stayed at “our house for two nights. We also provided the number of an expert on the issue, so she could talk to a professional. She said she needed time to think through how she will take it forward. I did not want in any way to pressurise her or steer her in any direction. As Vinod and I told her then, she has our full support and we are fully respectful of whatever decision she has taken.”

Mirror tried to contact Hirani, the Chopras and Joshi, but they were not available for comments.