#MeToo: Mukesh Chhabra, Vicky Sidana, Bhushan Kumar and Ashish Patil accused

Allegations of asking sexual favours during auditions emerge under #MeTooIndia

Casting director Mukesh Chhabra. File photo

Casting directors Mukesh Chhabra and Vicky Sidana, T-series chairman Bhushan Kumar and Yash Raj Films Talent and Business head Ashish Patil have been accused of sexual harassment and asking for sexual favours in a professional setup.

Mr. Kumar denied the allegations in a statement to PTI saying, “I am appalled and anguished to know that my name has been dragged in this #MeToo by some anonymous person(s). The allegations against me are bad on the face of it. I have enjoyed an impeccable reputation and have always maintained professionalism. The tweet has been used as a tool to defame me and malign my reputation."

Mr. Kumar has submitted an application at Amboli police station seeking a complaint of defamation and criminal intimidation against an unknown person for posting offending remarks and statements against him on social media and levelling sexual harassment allegations, confirmed senior police inspector Bharat Gaikwad.

Under #MeTooIndia on Twitter, an anonymous account had accused Mr. Kumar saying, “I was new and very scared. The next day I got to know that I was dropped from the film because I refused to sleep with the ‘boss’.”

Refuting allegations of sexual harassment of aspiring actors during auditions, Mr. Chhabra released a statement saying, “It is very unfortunate that years of hard work and building is been muzzled with a series of unsubstantiated wild anonymous allegations.”

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap tweeted, “I neither have any #MeToo stories nor evidence about Mukesh Chhabra. I cut off ties with him for lots of reasons related to casting and reasons that I don’t feel the need to put out in public domain.” Mr. Chhabra had worked on the casting of Netflix’s

Sacred Games, which was co-directed by Mr. Kashyap.

Mr. Chhabra opted out of a panel discussion at the ongoing India Film Project (October 13-14), an annual content creation festival held in Mumbai. Singer Raghu Dixit, journalist Meghnad Bose, comedian Aditi Mittal and Mr. Patil have also stepped down from participating in the festival after allegations of sexual harassment and assault under #MeTooIndia.

Denying allegations made anonymously on Twitter, Mr. Patil said in a statement, “They are untrue, fabricated, extremely defamatory and agenda driven. Yash Raj Films also tweeted promising to take strictest action if the allegations of sexual harassment are found to be true.