Kolkata: Director accused of harassment

KOLKATA: A day before the release of his third film, a Tollywood director has been accused in a #MeToo case by a theatre actress. The actress has alleged the director sexually harassed her during the audition of his second film.
In her Facebook post, the actress has mentioned that she should have shared her experience “long time back”. She alleged that the director messaged her, saying he found similarities between her and actress Radhika Apte and wanted to cast her in his next feature film.He had called her over to his place and handed her the script. “I went to his place without makeup, oiled hair, wearing a loose kurti because I was going through depression and I had stopped putting any kind of effort on myself. It was clear from his attitude that he thought I belong from some lower class family (sic),” she wrote. According to her post, he had sexually harassed her before she managed to flee. “Not only this, he said he was working as an undercover agent to investigate the protocol of the Maoists group in Purulia. And there, he met his wife who fell in love with him. And he was forced to marry her. And he called me day after day, begging me to marry him,” she alleged, elaborating on how the director had insisted her to marry him.
The actress claimed she shared her ordeal with a common friend. “Then I came to know he’s got a happy family life and his wife gives in everything to support him. He even threatened me to not cast me if I don’t do what he says (sic),” she alleged.
When TOI got in touch with the director, he declined any comment.