After filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani was accused of sexually assaulting a woman, several of his colleagues and friends came to his support on social media and to the press. Actor Dia Mirza called him a ‘decent human being’, actor Sharman Joshi called him ‘a man of immense integrity, character, honour, compassion and truthfulness’ while actor Karishma Tanna took it a step further and called the victim ‘immature’ for making such accusations.

Seeing the influx of character certificates that have been doled out in Hirani’s favour, we asked the cast of the upcoming web series Four More Shots Please about it. Sayani Gupta, who is one of the four leads of the Amazon Prime Video show, said she was shocked when she heard about the accusations against Hirani. “I know Raju sir pretty well and I’ve had amazing conversations and interactions with him. It really came as a shock. I am sure it came as a shock to many people and I was like ‘Oh my god! Him also?’, like who to actually trust, yaar,” she said.

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“I am of the opinion that every single person who comes out needs to be heard and we need to be non-judgmental and just have a listen. Also that somebody might be really nice to me and very, very respectful to me but might not be to somebody else. Mere saath nai hua bahut accha hai, main bahut fortunate hu par aapke sath ho sakta hai. Aur aap bahar se ye sab cheezein nahi bol sakte, you know (It’s good that it didn’t happen with me, I am fortunate. But this could have happened to you. So one cannot say things like that),” she added.

Hirani has been accused of sexual assault by a woman who worked with him on his 2018 film Sanju. According to a HuffPost India article, the woman claimed that Hirani sexually abused her on more than one occasion over a six-month period between March and September 2018. The 56-year-old filmmaker has denied the allegation.

Sayani said that she had to deal with a similar situation when someone close to her was accused of sexual harassment. “It has happened that somebody I know very well also had been called off and I have sort of stopped talking and sort of severed all ties or any conversation or communication because honestly I don’t know how to deal with it. If that person ever comes across me, I am actually hoping it never happens. So it is difficult even with people you know but I would always listen to the girl,” she said.

Her co-star on the show, Gurbani, better known as Bani J, said women should be heard because it is very difficult to come out with stories of harassment, even more so when the one you are accusing in a powerful person. “You are just like ‘what is even the point of me saying something because they are just gonna come and gonna squish me like a bug’. And then all that will happen will be people saying ‘Oh she is that chick who said this and look what happened to her now’. You have so much more to lose,” she said.

Maanvi Gagroo, another star of the show, talked about the ‘collateral damage’ that could happen because of the #MeToo movement. “A lot of people are like ‘Oh but you know all the laws are in their (women’s) favour and they misuse it’. Sure, I am sure there are a lot of people who misuse it. But every law is misused by some people. There is a traffic signal and we jump traffic signals also. But that doesn’t mean we stop putting traffic signals or there will be chaos otherwise. Similarly, there are people who could be misusing it,” she said.

Four More Shots Please is an Amazon Prime Video original series which also stars Kirti Kulhari, Lisa Ray, Neil Bhoopalam and others. It’s about four friends and their struggles with love, sex and relationships. It airs on Prime Video on January 25.

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First Published: Jan 24, 2019 16:26 IST