The #MeToo movement that started in Indian thanks to Tanushree Dutta standing up and revealing the sexual harassment she faced at the hands of Nana Patekar has taken the shape of a hurricane which is not looking to die down anytime soon. Every other day newer names get added to the list of sexual offenders and perpetrators. Alok Nath, Subhash Ghai, Vikas Bahl, Rajat Kapoor, Utsav Chakraborty and many more have been named, shamed and blamed. Now, actress Saloni Chopra has accused director Sajid Khan of sexual harassment and actor Zain Durrani of physical abuse. She also accused Vikas Bahl of being highly sexist.
In a detailed blog post, Saloni shared the sexual harassment that she faced at the hands of Sajid when she was working for him. In her blog, she writes, “He tried to grab my hand and put it on his dick to show me that I didn’t give him a boner. I shrugged it off and asked him to stop. He frantically started walking around the room telling me I was never going to have a future in this industry and no man would ever find me sexy and he should have a boner but he doesn’t, he doesn’t have a boner looking at me. And then, he pulled his pants down and showed me his dick as he kept yelling ‘see? You don’t even make me hard!’”
Sajid Khan
I finally decided to share my story with you. Writing this was like re-living all that horrible past I’d chosen to let go of, but I knew if I don’t today, I may never. So here’s #metoo #MetooIndia https://t.co/brouTYIBC7
— Saloni Chopra (@redheadchopra) October 11, 2018
Saloni is not the only one who has accused Sajid of sexual harassment. A senior journalist also shared her ordeal on Twitter and wrote how when she had gone to interview him at his sister Farah Khan’s house he had exposed himself and forcefully kissed her. Interestingly, Sajid is directing Nana in his forthcoming film Housefull 4.
Sajid Khan has preyed on women in the industry for years. Here's my story. #MeToo pic.twitter.com/Rufzs9dsp6
— YellowGlassDragon (@karishmau) October 11, 2018
Saloni Chopra
Saloni also accused Zain of hitting her while they were in a relationship and making it look as if it’s her fault that has made him behave this way. Recounting the horrible experience she wrote, “At every fight, he would raise his hands. He would grab me and push me onto walls, he would suddenly get really angry and choke me. After every single incident of abuse, he would howl and stop breathing and ‘faint’ — by the time he woke up, he didn’t know what had happened. He’d ask if he’d done something, and would call himself a monster and a horrible person. He would send me 10 page long emails referring to himself as a horrible human.”
Earlier, an anonymous woman accused Subhash Ghai of drugging and raping her. The director refuted all claims and issued a statement.