Nana Patekar has claimed to be considering legal action (Image courtesy: nana.patekar) Highlights She alleged that he made unwelcome, aggressive advances Nana Patekar denies any of this happened Journalist Janice Sequeira has said that it did Actor Nana Patekar's response to the allegations of harassment made by Tanushree Dutta has been to say he's considering legal action, following that up with a statement from his lawyer saying a legal notice would be sent to the actress today demanding an apology. On Twitter, though, damning testimonies by two women corroborate much of what Ms Dutta said happened on a film set 10 years ago - one, a journalist who was on set the day the alleged harassment took place, has posted detailed tweets; the other, an assistant director on the film in question, backed the journalist up. Tanushree Dutta alleges that Nana Patekar made unwelcome and aggressive advances while filming a song for 2008 film Horn 'Ok' Pleassss; when she called him out and walked off set to her vanity can, Mr Patekar allegedly called on his political connections to have thugs surround her van and then attack her car, with Ms Dutta's parents in it. Nana Patekar denies any of this happened. Journalist Janice Sequeira has said that it did, backed up by Shyni Shetty, then working as an assistant director on her first film. "Everything in this thread happened exactly the way it's written," Ms Shetty tweeted yesterday referring to Ms Sequeira's posts, "I was proud of what you did then, Tanushree Dutta, and I'm proud of you today." Ms Sequeira's tweets reveal that she had been on set that day and while she didn't witness Mr Patekar's alleged inappropriate behaviour itself, she saw what happened after. When she arrived on set, shooting had been stalled; she writes of watching Ms Dutta storm off set into her van, which was then surrounded by goons banging on the door. She also saw Ms Dutta's car being attacked. Most chilling is the official reason given for the disruption in shooting - Ms Dutta was blamed for being "difficult, uncooperative." The other person who was on set that day and has spoken is choreographer Ganesh Acharya, who couldn't decide whether "something happened" or "it didn't happen." He said both to News18: "Something did happen that day because the shooting was also stalled for over three hours. There was some sort of misunderstanding. But I can confirm that nothing this sort of happened. It's a wrong statement that Nana ji called members of some political party on set. It never happened." See the tweets that say otherwise below: Everything in this thread happened exactly the way it's written. It was my first film as an AD. I was proud of what you did then, @TanushreeDutta and I'm proud of you today. https://t.co/5IX01qn0nb — Shyni Shetty (@SceneSorted) September 27, 2018 I was a cub reporter in 2008, assigned by AajTak and Headlines Today to cover the BTS of a song being shot for this film. When I arrived, I was told shooting had been stalled because the actress, #TanushreeDutta was "being difficult". #NanaPatekar — Janice Sequeira (@janiceseq85) September 26, 2018 I could see Tanushree on set, visibly upset about something. #NanaPatekar, choreographer Ganesh Acharya and a man (who I later found was the producer) were having a conversation, while 50-odd dancers sat waiting. The official version was that the "heroine was not cooperating". — Janice Sequeira (@janiceseq85) September 26, 2018 A while later, shooting resumed. Tanushree resumed work, and a couple shots later, #NanaPatekar joined her. Not long after that, Tanushree walked off set. Shooting halted again. She locked herself in her vanity van, refusing to come out. — Janice Sequeira (@janiceseq85) September 26, 2018 Out of nowhere, goons turned up and began banging against the vanity van door. I was told the producers had called them to set. Cops arrived. Amidst this chaos, I got hold of #NanaPatekar. All he said was, "Meri beti jaisi hai", which didn't really make any sense at that point. — Janice Sequeira (@janiceseq85) September 26, 2018 Eventually, Tanushree's parents arrived to pick her up. Her car was attacked, the windshield broken. I tried to get in touch with Tanushree to get her version of events. Around midnight, she asked me to come to her place. In tears, she narrated what really happened. #NanaPatekar — Janice Sequeira (@janiceseq85) September 26, 2018 Tanushree told me that after three days of rehearsals, Ganesh Acharya changed every step on the day of shoot. #NanaPatekar was never meant to be part of the choreography, but coerced the producers into getting him to shake a leg with Dutta. — Janice Sequeira (@janiceseq85) September 26, 2018 Later, she said, a lewd dance step was introduced on the insistence of #NanaPatekar, so he could touch her inappropriately. That's where alarm bells rang, and Tanushree decided to walk off set. What she didn't expect was the aggression shown by the producers after. — Janice Sequeira (@janiceseq85) September 26, 2018 The chat I had with Dutta hours after the incident was identical to the account she's come out with now. How could a person's version remain the same a decade later if there wasn't any truth to it? [Our chat was off-the-record, even though she went on to give interviews later.] — Janice Sequeira (@janiceseq85) September 26, 2018 For anyone who's either going to be ignoring or downplaying Dutta's account as a desperate call for attention and question why she didn't speak out earlier - she did. Interviews by Dutta were followed by a press conference by #NanaPatekar where she was branded "unprofessional". — Janice Sequeira (@janiceseq85) September 26, 2018 This was a decade ago. It could have possibly been the first instance of a Bollywood actress calling out sexual predators, and her voice was silenced by more powerful men who continued to have flourishing careers. Now she's found her voice again. Shouldn't we listen? #NanaPatekar — Janice Sequeira (@janiceseq85) September 26, 2018 It seems that even Bollywood is listening. Twinkle Khanna, whose husband Akshay Kumar has been named by Tanushree Dutta as complicit by choosing to make films with Nana Patekar despite allegedly knowing about the allegations of harassment against him, tweeted today describing Ms Dutta as 'brave' and urging that Janice Sequeira's tweets be read. Priyanka Chopra, Sonam Kapoor, Farhan Akhtar, Parineeti Chopra, Richa Chadha and Swara Bhasker have added their voices to a small but growing chorus of support for Ms Dutta. Unsurprisingly, Bollywood's biggest male stars have feigned ignorance. Amitabh Bachchan, speaking at the launch of the trailer of Thugs Of Hindostan yesterday, said, "My name is neither Tanushree nor Nana Patekar so how can I answer your question," when asked by journalists to comment. Salman Khan said at an event, "I'm not aware of this, my dear. Let me know and understand what is happening... If we see what is going on, I am not aware of what you are talking about." Aamir Khan offered a diplomatic response only marginally improved from those of his fellow superstars. Also speaking at the Thugs Of Hindostan event, he said, "Without knowing the veracity of something, it's not right for me to comment on it. But whenever something like this does happen, it's a sad thing. Whether this has happened, that is for people to investigate." Akshay Kumar has not spoken. And yet, not all men. Tanushree Dutta also revealed that when the director of her 2005 film Chocolate - Vivek Agnihotri, whom she didn't actually name - asked her to "take her clothes off and dance" off camera in a scene, co-stars Irrfan Khan and Suniel Shetty spoke instantly in her defence.<doc-sep>Tanushree Dutta had claimed that everyone in the industry was aware of Nana Patekar’s misbehaviour with many women. Mumbai: The debate over what is being seen as Bollywood's #MeToo moment snowballed Thursday as Tanushree Dutta reiterated her claim that Nana Patekar had harassed her on the sets of a film in 2008, and the veteran actor laughed off her allegation, asking what he could do about it. A day after Dutta reopened the window on the 10-year-old incident and specifically named Patekar, there was a furious discussion on social media platforms and other media outlets, but the film industry itself was mostly silent. Patekar dismissed Dutta's claim that he had misbehaved with her on the sets of ‘Horn 'Ok' Pleassss’ in 2008. In a telephonic conversation with Mirror Now, the 67-year-old actor said he would see if he could take any legal step. "What can I do about it? Tell me? How would I know?" he asked with a laugh. "What does she mean by sexual harassment? There are 50-100 people on the sets with me. Will see what I can do legally," Patekar can be heard saying in Marathi in the audio available on the channel's official Twitter account. Such behaviour, he added, could not have gone unnoticed in a film set with "50-100" people. Rakesh Sarang, director of ‘Horn 'Ok' Pleassss’, backed Patekar. "She misunderstood the enthusiasm of Mr Patekar. There were so many people on the sets. If somebody wanted to do it, why do it in front of everyone?" Sarang told PTI. Meanwhile, after reacting to the controversy, work went on for Patekar as he headed to Jaisalmer to shoot for ‘Housefull 4’. Farah Khan posted a picture on Instagram with the film’s actors, Kriti Sanon, Pooja Hegde, among others.<doc-sep>Veteran actor Nana Patekar has decided to send a legal notice to Tanushree Dutta following her allegations that the he sexually harassed her on the sets of a film in 2008. Speaking to ANI, Patekar’s lawyer Rajendra Shikodkar, dismissed Dutta’s allegations calling them false and untrue. “We are in process of sending legal notice to Tanushree Dutta as she has made false allegations and has spoken untruth. We will send the notice later today which will be basically a notice seeking apology for her statements,” said Shirodkar. Dutta had recently alleged that Patekar misbehaved with her on the sets of the film Horn ‘Ok’ Pleassss. She alleged that she was harassed by Patekar while shooting for a special dance number in the movie. The former beauty queen also accused dance choreographer Ganesh Acharya of teaming up against her. “He was being aggressive and was pushing me around. I complained about him, but it was not heard. They (film crew) were forcing me to do an intimate step. My contract stated that it was a solo dance sequence, and it was not supposed to be a duet. It was a way to manipulate me. This was the whole harassment situation going on,” Dutta said. The Aashiq Banaya Aapne actor further alleged that she and her family were attacked after she refused to perform the intimate step. Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10<doc-sep>
‘What does she mean by sexual harassment?’: Nana Patekar laughs off Tanushree's claim Tanushree had alleged that Nana Patekar had touched her inappropriately and set goons upon her during a 2008 shoot. news Sexual harassment After Bollywood actor Tanushree Dutta alleged that Nana Patekar had sexually harassed her and set goons on her and her family in 2008, Nana has responded, denying he committed the alleged acts. In a phone conversation with Aruneel Sadadekar of Mirror Now, Nana Patekar, when asked about Tanushree’s allegations against him, said, “What can I do about it? You tell me.” When probed further, he went on to laugh, and say, “What does she mean by sexual harassment? There were 50-100 people on set with me [at that time]…” Nana Patekar also said that he would see what he could do about it legally. “I’ll see, it’s a waste talking,” he said, adding that the media will “play up anything”. Nana concluded saying that he would continue doing his work and people can continue saying what they want. Actor Nana Patekar denies sexual harassment allegations by Actress Tanushree Dutta. pic.twitter.com/vqyTpSkBm4 — Mirror Now (@MirrorNow) September 27, 2018 Tanushree had alleged in a Zoom TV interview that Nana Patekar had sexually harassed her on the sets of the 2009 Hindi film Horn Ok Pleassss. She was shooting what was supposed to be her solo song (later performed by Rakhi Sawant) when Nana Patekar was on set. Tanushree alleged that he pulled her by her arms, tried to teach her the dance steps and even got an “intimate” step added to the choreography just so that he could touch her. Tanushree also alleged that he called goons to the set, who vandalised her car as she attempted to leave. She added that the producer and director were complicit in her harassment and did not heed her complaints about Nana Patekar. She also alleged that people in Bollywood knew about Nana Patekar’s harassment of women actors but stayed mum about it, and big stars like Akshay Kumar and Rajinikanth worked with him despite his acts of indecency against women in the film fraternity. Tanushree said that though she spoke about it then as well, no one came forward in her support. Over 24 hours after the controversy surfaced, Bollywood has greeted Tanushree’s story with a resounding silence. In fact, the only people from the Hindi film industry who have responded to the controversy have either supported Nana Patekar or have denied comment. Horn Ok Pleassss director Rakesh Sarang said that Tanushree had “misjudged everything” , including Nana Patekar's “encouragement”. Nana was apparently shooting a song after many years because of which he was "very excited". Using the same vein of thought as Nana, Rakesh said that no one would try to harass a woman in front of hundreds of people. “There were around 400 people on the set that day. Will anybody take advantage in front of 400 people,” he said. Like many others, Rakesh brushed off Tanushree’s story saying she was merely trying to create controversy because she may want a comeback in Bollywood. Ganesh Acharya, the choreographer of the song, has also supported Nana Patekar. Claiming that the incident happened a long time ago and that he does not remember it clearly, the choreographer said that ‘Nathani Utaro’, the song Tanushree was shooting for, was always a duet song. He said that “something” did happen that day because the “shooting was stalled” because of some “misunderstanding”. Ganesh also denied that goons had come on set and vandalised Tanushree’s car and harassed her family. However, the account of a journalist, Janice Sequiera, who was on set to cover the behind the scenes of the song, confirmed that this happened. Janice tweeted what Tanushree had told her at that time, and said that it matched the sequence of events she described in the interview to Zoom TV. Out of nowhere, goons turned up and began banging against the vanity van door. I was told the producers had called them to set. Cops arrived. Amidst this chaos, I got hold of #NanaPatekar. All he said was, “Meri beti jaisi hai”, which didn’t really make any sense at that point. — Janice Sequeira (@janiceseq85) September 26, 2018 Eventually, Tanushree’s parents arrived to pick her up. Her car was attacked, the windshield broken. I tried to get in touch with Tanushree to get her version of events. Around midnight, she asked me to come to her place.