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Tanushree Dutta Accuses Nana Patekar Of Harassment On The Sets Of Bollywood Film

Everyone gossiped about it, but never spoke up against it, she said.

Actor Tanushree Dutta has accused Nana Patekar of sexually harassing her on the sets of Horn Ok Please. She opened up about the assault during an interview with Zoom TV.

Dutta said that no one did anything about it, even though the entire film industry was aware of Patekar's alleged predatory behaviour towards women.

She told Zoom TV, "He wanted to do an 'intimate step' during a song sequence which was not part of the contract. It was supposed to be a solo sequence. I was extremely uncomfortable around him. He tried to get physically close to me, pushed me around and grabbed me by my arm. He was not even supposed to be on set."

He reportedly told the choreographers to move away and wanted to teach her how to dance.

"I realised during shooting that no one is going to help me. I had spoken to the producer director. But no one listened to me. Instead Patekar asked for an intimate scene. He wanted to assault me in the guise of that dance sequence," she said.

"Some people had called me to show support, but then people continued to work with him. I don't understand why people continued to tolerate his behaviour. Everyone knows about Nana Patekar. Everyone in the industry knows that he has beaten up women, he has molested actors, his behaviour with women has always been terrible. But no publication has ever mentioned this before. People have gossiped about it, but never spoken up about it," she said.

Dutta named people who have repeatedly worked with Patekar including Akshay Kumar and Rajinikanth.

"You are working with somebody who has not only harassed an individual, sent goons to attack the women, but also my family's harassment continued for years, everyone knows that. Aren't you responsible, being a big star? Specially when we are living in sensitive times?" she asked.

"Is this the kind of message you are to your daughter, that its ok for people to harass you?" she said.

Dutta also accused Rakhi Sawant, who replaced her on the sets, of badmouthing her. "Being a woman, she had said 'uske body pe gold and diamonds lage hain kya, ki usko chu nahi sakte (is her body gold and diamond studded that you can't touch her)?"

Dutta said that in those days people had the idea that since she did glamorous roles, she must be ok with such behaviour.

"There were four culprits of the incident -- actor Nana Patekar, producer Sami Siddiqui, director Rakesh Sarang and choreographer Ganesh Acharya," Dutta.

Dutta alleged that when she spoke of the incident to the producer and director, instead of helping her they called the media to get publicity out of the situation. Patekar allegedly called MNS goons who came and destroyed her car.

She said a Mumbai police team had to reach the spot to control the situation.

Dutta had earlier spoken about the incident in 2008, without naming the actor.

She told Zoom TV, "In those days people used to speak about sexual harassment in hushed voices behind closed doors, unlike now when women can speak about it. This is because our country has a warped culture where the perpetrator of a crime is not ashamed."

Watch the entire interview with Zoom TV here.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.