Apart from the high profile weddings, 2018 will also be remembered for the #MeToo movement that erupted in India after Tanushree Dutta accused Nana Patekar of sexual harassment and intimidation on the sets of the 2008 film Horn OK Pleasss. Several powerful celebrities like Sajid Khan, Subhash Ghai, Rajat Kapoor, Alok Nath were accused of sexual misconduct. In this deluge, a few other names were also added to the list which was later found out to be falsely accused.
One prominent name that was added to the list but later turned out to be false was of Sushant Singh Rajput. Earlier in August, rumours started doing the rounds that Sushant Singh Rajput was making his Kizzie Aur Manny co-star Sanjana Sanghi uncomfortable with his actions. The issue emerged again during the #MeToo movement and Sushant was accused of sexual harassment. However, now the actor spoke to a portal about the entire ordeal and expressed his displeasure and ire at being falsely accused.
He told the portal, “It was paradoxical because it (the #MeToo movement) was something that I stand for. I happened to be one of the intentional and strategic casualties. Many paid campaigners were used to give it a burst. I felt bad and misunderstood. The more it gets written about, the more it damages my reputation, which I have worked hard to build. The movement is a good thing. It is all about changing mindsets.”
To prove his innocence Sushant had shared screenshots of his conversation with Sanjana on social media at the time. He even went on to temporarily deactivate his Twitter account and wrote, “The last thing worth doing is to defend yourself of the fiction created by an agenda. People using this much-required campaign for their personal agenda is too much to ignore. So here is the text conversation with Sanjana till the time I shot for the film. I let you decide." He shared the screenshots of his conversation with Sanjana and wrote, “I feel sad to reveal personal information but it seems that there is no other way to state what actually happened, in the midst of this curated, well timed and agenda-driven smear campaign. From the first day of the shoot till the last day, this is what happened on the sets with Sanjana. Misconduct? Not at all. Agenda? You decide.”
[caption id="attachment_96543" align="aligncenter" width="1500"]
Sushant Singh Rajput and Sanjana Sanghi[/caption]
Sanjana later spoke up and confirmed that there was no truth to the accusatory reports. The director of Sushant’s and Sanjana’s film Mukesh Chhabra who was also accused of inappropriate behaviour but was later cleared after an investigation said that no such incident took place between his lead actors.
