Filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani is the latest name to be called out in India's #MeToo storm, which has engulfed many a stalwart such as Nana Patekar, Alok Nath, Vikas Bahl, Sajid Khan and former Union minister MJ Akbar, among others.
Hirani has been accused of sexual assault by a woman who worked with him on his 2017 film Sanju. Hirani has categorically denied the allegations. His lawyer Anand Desai termed the allegations "false, mischievous, scandalous, motivated and defamatory" in a statement issued soon after the allegations against the director was made public in a detailed investigation by HuffPost India.
Soon after the allegation came to light, several Bollywood celebrities like Sharman Joshi, Arshad Warsi and Boney Kapoor among others, came out in Hirani's defense.
"Rajkumar Hirani is too good a man to do something like this. I don't believe this allegation. He can never do something like this," Boney Kapoor told ANI.
Actor Sharman Joshi, who has worked with Hirani in 3 Idiots, called the director a man of immense truthfulness and launched #IStandForRajuHirani on Twitter.
Arshard Warsi, who played Circuit in Hirani's Munna Bhai franchise, said, "If you talk to me about Raju Hirani as a person, as a personality and how he is, I think he is a wonderful person and a thorough gentleman. So, for me, It’s a shocker as it is for everybody else who has heard this news."
Dia, a close friend of Hirani who's worked with him in Lage Raho Munnabhai and Sanju, said, "I am deeply distressed by this news. As someone who has known and respects Raju sir for 15 years, I can only hope that a due official enquiry is conducted. He is one of the most decent human beings I have ever worked with and I think it would be grossly unjust on my part to speak on this as I do not know the details."
The woman, who has accused Hirani, alleged that the director sexually abused her more than once between March and September 2018.
Follow @news18movies for more
Comments
0 comment