Bollywood director denies #MeToo claims, threatens filmmakers
MUMBAI: A prominent Bollywood director accused of sexual harassment has denied the allegations as he threatened to sue two fellow filmmakers for defamation over the case which has helped fuel India’s #MeToo movement.
Vikas Bahl is accused of assaulting an employee of Phantom Films — an edgy production house behind Netflix’s first original Indian series, Sacred Games — in a hotel in 2015.
In accusations published on HuffPost India last Saturday, the unnamed woman said Bahl had insisted on escorting her to her room and pretended to pass out drunk on her bed, only to awaken and masturbate on her.
Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane, who along with Bahl and another filmmaker founded Phantom Films, released statements on Twitter later that day backing the woman.
The report came after they had announced they were dissolving the production company on Friday.
Bahl, director of Queen, a 2014 hit movie about female empowerment, issued a denial through his lawyer on Wednesday in his first public statement responding to the allegation.
A legal notice released to the media and seen by AFP said Bahl “denies all allegations”.
“Vikas Bahl issues defamation notice to Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane threatening civil and criminal action,” it added.
The notice accused Kashyap and Motwane of “professional rivalry and jealousy” and of trying to jeopardise the release of Bahl’s upcoming film Super 30. — AFP