Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar has cancelled today's (Friday) shoot of Housefull 4 after grave sexual harassment allegations against the film’s director Sajid Khan surfaced on Thursday.
A source close to the production house has told hindustantimes that the decision also involved the consideration that one of the actors in the under-production film is Nana Patekar, who was also accused of sexual harassment by Tanushree Dutta.
“Akshay is known to be a disciplinarian and has never cancelled a shoot in his 28-year career. This is the first time that he has decided to cancel a shoot, perhaps because the #Metoo movement just cannot be ignored. The allegations made against Sajid Khan and Nana Patekar are both serious and grave in nature,” hindustantimes reports quoting the source.
On Thursday evening, as many as three women — actor Rachel White, assistant director Saloni Chopra, and journalist Karishma Upadhyay — had shared their tales of sexual harassment at the hands of Sajid Khan. All the victims have revealed their identity to the media and spelt out details of how they were harassed by Khan, the brother of choreographer-director Farah Khan, and director of films such as Humshakals, Himmatwala, and Heyy Baby.
Housefull 4 is being produced by Sajid Nadiadwala and 70 per cent of the shooting of the film has already been done in London and Jaisalmer.
Tanushree Dutta also accused Nana Patekar of sexual harassment — ten years ago on the sets of Horn ‘Ok’ Pleassss. Tanushree recalled the incident recently, which gave India its Me Too Moment. Following allegations against Nana Patekar, many victims have come out and shamed their sexual predators irrespective of how powerful they might be.
