‘Sanjay touched me while taking a photo’

Actor Shilpa Shinde filed an FIR against Sanjay Kohli, the producer of her last show Bhabhiji Ghar Par Hai, on Thursday. She accused him of sexual harassment. Shilpa spoke to us at length about the ordeal and how it all started.

“In our industry everything is taken lightly. Guys say things like, ‘You are looking, hot, sexy’, all the time. Sanjayji used to come on the set and talk like this to us,” she says. Picking out specific instances when she felt sexually harassed, Shilpa says, “Once Sanjayji told me that for the promotion of show, we will have to go out and that we will have a nice time. Also, in the makeup room he came close to me and photo lete huye and apna haath rakha mujhe pe…I could feel that touch was not right.”

Shilpa says that she brought this up with her co-actor Saumya Tandon as well. “I spoke to Saumya also about this, but she was like – ‘Humari industry mein koi rape nai karta Shilpa’. But I told her that I was feeling very uncomfortable,” explains Shilpa.

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ater I got to know that Saumya told Benaifer because two days later Benaifer asked me if I wanted to leave the show. She told me ‘yeh kya keh rahi ho tum…koi pyaar se baat karta hai, toh tumhe yeh sab lagta hai. Humein do minute lagenge tumhara career spoil karne mein.’,” she says.

The popular show was under the scanner last year when Shilpa accused the producers of mentally torturing her. The producers, in turn had accused her of throwing tantrums on the set, leaving the show mid-way and asking for more money.

Talking about why she didn’t talk about being sexually harassed at that time, Shilpa says, “That time, the way they portrayed everything and played games, I could not understand and believe that this could happen. Other artists on the show were also not talking to me. I thought that they (the producers) will apologise and it will sort out in 2-3 days. I also told some people (about the sexual harassment charges), but they asked me what proof do I have.” While she is determined to sort out the matter once and for all, Shilpa says the last year has not been easy for her. “I was depressed and was on medication most of the time. They have spoilt my career. But I am going to court. I am not going to leave them. I will ensure that they go to jail for what they have done to me.

Benaifer told me it would take them just two minutes to finish my career if I spoke of the sexual assault to anyone SHILPA SHINDE, ACTOR

PHOTO:VIDYA SUBRAMANIAN/HT