Actor Kangana Ranaut, who played the lead role in Vikas Bahl's Queen, has accused the director of sexually harassing her on the sets of the movie. This come after a woman employee at Phantom Films reiterated her allegations of molestation against the film director. Last year, the woman employee at Phantom Films, which had Bahl as one of the partners along side Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane and Madhu Mantena, had alleged that Bahl behaved inappropriately with her during a trip to Goa In a recent article in Huffpost India, the woman has reiterated the allegations, sharing further details about the incident. According to the report, in October 2015, the woman reached out to Anurag Kashyap and detailed her experience, but no action was taken while Bahl continued to harass her until she finally quit the company. After the article went viral, "Queen" actor Kangana Ranaut also raised her voice against Bahl, the director of the movie. "(I) Totally believe her, even though Vikas was married back in 2014 when we were filming Queen, he bragged about having casual sex with a new partner every other day. I don't judge people and their marriages but you can tell when addiction becomes sickness," Kangana said in a statement. The actor said she was "shamed" for not being cool enough by the director, who, Kangana says, was scared of her. "But still every time we met, socially greeted and hugged each other, he'd bury his face in my neck, hold me really tight and breathe in the smell of my hair. It took me great amount of strength and effort to pull myself out of his embrace. He'd say 'I love how you smell K'. I could tell something is wrong with him". Kangana said though she believed the woman who levelled allegations against Bahl, it was sad that people were attacking him now "even though the woman asked for help long ago." "That time the story was conveniently killed but I supported her at that time as well... I thought the movement would catch up but I was wrong," she said. Kangana also claimed that Vikas had come to her with a script about a gold medalist from Haryana but stopped talking about the project as she supported the woman. "I didn't mind losing out on a good script and I never called him either. I was determined to say what I felt was right but the matter was pushed under the carpet and I didn't hear any updates about the same. It's amusing after the news of Phantom dissolution, many are finding the courage to attack him. "Shame on such a society, go look at yourselves in the mirror bunch of cowards. Attacking powerless men won't begin a movement. Lets not be opportunists. Selective outrage will only serve as entertainment, this will just be tabloid gossip and nothing else," she said. In the article, which has since become viral on social media, Kashyap has admitted he had failed the woman, three years after he first learnt of the allegations. "Whatever happened was wrong. We didn't handle it well, we failed. I cannot blame anyone but myself. But now we are determined to do better. We believe her completely. She has our undying support. What Bahl has done is horrifying. We are already on our path of course correction and will do everything in our capacity to fix it," Kashyap said. Earlier on Saturday, the four partners of the Phantom Films announced to dissolve their joint banner, without citing the reason for this decision. Founded in 2011, the banner has produced films like "Lootera", "Queen", "Ugly", "NH 10", "Bombay Velvet", "Masaan", "Udta Punjab", "Raman Raghav 2.0" and "Trapped", among others. Their last film as producers will be Hrithik Roshan-starrer "Super 30". Directed by Bahl, the film is scheduled to be released on January 25, 2019. PTI For in-depth, objective and more importantly balanced journalism, Click here to subscribe to Outlook Magazine<doc-sep>After Kangana Ranaut, Queen actor Nayani Dixit has accused director Vikas Bahl of inappropriate behaviour during the film’s shoot. Her accusations come a few days after Bahl, a co-founder of Phantom Films, was accused by a former staff member of harassment. Following this, Kangana Ranaut also revealed that Vikas “would bury his face in my neck, hold me really tight and breathe in the smell of my hair. It took me a great amount of strength and effort to pull myself out of his embrace. He’d say ‘I love how you smell K’.” In an interview to Bollywood Hungama, the actor said, “Whatever the girl has accused Vikas Bahl is not at all wrong because he also tried his hand on me. I literally told him that ‘main tumhe maarungi if you do this again’. So I am sure he did the same with the girl in question as well.” She also revealed that the director was rude to her at work after this. She explained, “Next day, when I came on the sets, something went wrong with my hair. I didn’t get it as it’s not my area of concern. But Vikas blasted me and he behaved very weird with me. Now when I look back, I realized that why this behaviour. Since he did not get a chance on me, he was taking revenge.” She also recalled an incident where Vikas offered to share a room with her. She explained, “They kept us in a 2-star hotel. When I said that I am not comfortable, Vikas told me that he can share his room with me. Look at his audacity!” She added, “We were shooting for the London Thumakda song and in the crew, there was a 21-year-old local Delhi girl who was in the costume department. Vikas flirted even with her and she was very uncomfortable and she later confided to me that why this person is always after me. Even Kangana Ranaut was witness to this drama and even she was taken aback. She remarked, ‘Tu pagal hai kya?’” Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10<doc-sep>
Actress Kangna Ranaut has become the latest Bollywood actor who has accused Queen director Vikas Bahl of sexual harassment. According to reports, Ranaut claims that Bahl harassed her during the shooting of the film. The latest development surrounding Bahl comes to light after a woman working at Phantom Film of which Bahl is one of the owners said, the director had molested her while they were in Goa in 2017. Ranuat while speaking to India Today Ranuat had said, that she supports her and believes her. Further, the actress revealed her own experience with Bahl. Ranuat said, “Even though Vikas was married back in 2014 when we were filming Queen, he bragged about having casual sex with a new partner every other day.” “I don't judge people and their marriages but you can tell when addiction becomes sickness. He partied every night and shamed me for sleeping early and not being cool enough," she added. The 31-year-old revealed, that he would get a little too close for comfort at times. "I often told him off. He was scared of me but still every time we met, socially greeted and hugged each other, he'd bury his face in my neck and hold me really tight and breathe in the smell of my hair. It took me great amount of strength and effort to pull myself out of his embrace. He'd say, 'I love how you smell K'." The actress also shared how she lost out on a project after she supported the girl. "At that time Vikas had come to me with a script about a gold medalist from Haryana. When I supported the girl, he stopped talking to me. I didn't mind losing out on a good script and I never called him either.” “I was determined to say what I felt was right. The matter was pushed under the carpet and I didn't hear any updates on the same," Ranut added.