Chitrangada Singh, who extended her support to actress Tanushree Dutta, has opened up about how she was harassed by director Kushan Nandy on the sets of Babumoshai Bandookbaaz in 2016.
The actress made headlines when she walked out of the film citing discomfort shooting intimate scenes with co-star Nawazuddin Siddiqui. She claimed that she was asked to wear an unbuttoned blouse and a petticoat, and lie on Nawaz with her legs spread apart.
Recalling her own experience on the sets, Chitrangada told Dainik Bhaskar, "When I shot for the film (Babumoshai Bandookbaaz), suddenly they came up with a titillating scene and asked me to do it with Nawazuddin. The director just ordered 'apna petticoat uthao aur ragdo aapne aap ko'! Who talks like this? He was just atrocious. I was offended, and I walked out."
Chitrangada said that the alleged incident took place in front of her co-actor Nawazuddin, DOP (Director of Photography) and a female producer but nobody stood up for her at that time.
"And to top it all, during the film's first press conference they very blatantly said 'we are glad she left as we got a better replacement'. During one of the film promotional events Nawaz went on and made a statement that 'humne toh doh baari mazze kar liye' (We got to enjoy twice)," she added.
At that time, Kushan had denied allegations saying that Chitrangda was not performing well so they asked her to leave. She was later replaced by Bidita Bag as female lead in the film.
During her recent interaction with the media at the Elle Beauty Awards 2018 where she won 'Be More Elle Award' on Saturday (October 6) in Mumbai, Chitrangada told IANS, "That was my stand to walk out of the film. I shared my reasons with a media house when they called me to talk about it.
"I believe that nobody gave importance to that matter that time. But that doesn't matter, because now media is doing an amazing job. #MeToo movement shouldn't be just about copying the West. It should be concerned about our society."
Chitrangada has worked in film "Inkaar", which was based on sexual harassment at workplace.
