#MeToo in Bollywood: Actor Sushant Singh, director Vipul Shah accused of sexual harassment

Actor Sushant Singh has rubbished the reports of flirting with debutant actress Sanjana Sanghi on the sets of upcoming Kizie and Manny and making her feel “uncomfortable while filming. These reports had appeared on social media that Sushant Singh made Sanjana feel so uncomfortable that her parents had to intervene since the director Mukesh Chahabra refused to take any stand in the matter.

Sushant Singh in his defence, shared screenshots of some of his conversation with Sanjana on Twitter to clear his name and alleged that it was part of a "well-timed and agenda-driven smear campaign".

The film’s director Mukesh Chhabra also tweeted in support of Sushant Singh saying that it is not fair to have a ‘Twitter trial’ to make an innocent person suffer ‘for someone else’s ulterior motives’.

Meanwhile Iranian model and actor Elnaaz Norouzi who became popular with her role as Zoya Mirza in the web series Sacred Games has accused the director Vipul Shah of sexual harassment. According to Elnaaz, Vipul Shah who has directed the upcoming flick Namaste England made sexual advances towards her during the audition of a role for the film.

In a detailed account published in Mid-Day, Elnaaz has recounted how Vipul Shah kept calling her to his office and then to the location of the shoot to ‘audition’ her. He kept making sexual advances towards her and even asked her to come to his hotel room.

She said she did not file a police complaint because she is not an Indian citizen. However, in the wake of #MeToo movement, she came out with her painful experience so that “disgusting people stop misusing their power.”