Veteran actor and Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) Roopa Ganguly on Monday alleged that the Mumbai film industry "kills people" and makes them "drug addicts". She also raised the issue of physical abuse with young and female actresses and sat in protest in the Parliament complex with banners, posters in hand, demanding strict action against the accused, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap after actor Payal Ghosh had accused the Bollywood director of sexual harassment.
Roopa told ANI, "Mumbai film industry kills people, makes them drug addict, and keep insulting woman, but nobody is doing anything. Mumbai Police remains silent. It does not take action." She further added, "Why the Bollywood is silent over the sexual harassment charges levelled by Payal Ghosh against Anurag Kashyap? Why Mumbai Police is not taking any action against Anurag Kashyap?"
On Monday, the 48-year-old director spoke through his lawyer Priyanka Khimani, "My client, Anurag Kashyap, has been deeply pained by the false allegations of sexual misconduct that have recently surfaced against him. These allegations are completely false, malicious, and dishonest..."
Calling Payal's allegations fictitious, his lawyer added that they seriously undermine the #MeToo movement and seek to unconscionably trade upon the pain and trauma of actual victims of sexual harassment and abuse. "My client has been fully advised of his rights and remedies in law and intends to pursue them to the fullest extent," the statement added.
For the uninformed, Roopa Ganguly has been raising her voice against nepotism after Sushant Singh Rajput's death. Earlier this year, she had even declared that she would boycott films of those Bollywood personalities who have been practising nepotism in the film industry.
"I will not watch films of certain people after this. Because they have given a message to the country that boys and girls from small towns should not come to the industry. Nepotism will be there everywhere. Parents can definitely help their children. But it should not be practised in a way so that some people are pushed to death," Ganguly had told news agency IANS. She had also demanded the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case.
(INPUTS FROM ANI)