Sajid Khan was accused by multiple women of inappropriate behaviour.The Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) has said that filmmaker Sajid Khan has been punished for his alleged misconduct, and should now be allowed to work for a living. Multiple women had accused the filmmaker of sexually inappropriate behaviour during the #MeToo movement, and Sajid was subsequently served a one-year ban by the FWICE.
In what is being perceived as an attempt to facilitate his rehabilitation, the filmmaker has joined the cast of the reality show Bigg Boss as a contestant. His appearance on the show has been considered as potentially triggering to the women who had accused him of misconduct, and to other survivors as well.
In response to Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal’s calls for Sajid to be removed from the show, the FWICE said in a statement that in the body’s view, the filmmaker should be allowed to work, especially since he has served his one-year ban. The DCW chief had written to I&B minister Anurag Thakur about the matter, and later said that she had received rape threats for speaking out against the show.
We write to Hon’ble Minister I&B @ianuragthakur ji in response to a letter issued by @DCWDelhi to him regarding Actor -Director @SimplySajidK ‘s presence in @BiggBoss and make an appeal that Sajid Khan has faced his punishment and should be allowed to work for his living. pic.twitter.com/SqHppugbP6
— Federation of Western India Cine Employees (@fwicemum) October 11, 2022
The FWICE’s letter read, “After carefully going through the entire proceedings of the POSH committee of IFTDA and considering the opinions of the legal team FWICE, the FWICE also endorsed the action against Director Sajid Khan and seconded the decision of IFTDA of BAN on Shri Sajid Khan for one year.” It continued, “Shri Sajid Khan had cooperated with the IFTDA and FWICE and obeyed the decision of the POSH Committee. FWICE was satisfied with his behaviour during the period of his Ban and after completion of the one year of this punishment the BAN on Shri Sajid Khan was lifted by the FWICE on 14.03 2019 Shri Sajid Khan has now entered into the BIGG BOSS to earn his living.” The FWICE concluded its letter by requesting Anurag Thakur to not initiate action against the filmmaker on the basis of Swati Maliwal’s complaint.
Sajid was in the middle of production on Housefull 4 when the accusations came to light. Star Akshay Kumar said in a statement that he does not condone the kind of behaviour that had been described by Sajid’s accusers. The filmmaker was removed from the project and Farhad Samji was brought in as the replacement director. Asked about the accusations, Akshay had said that the film’s trailer launch event, “I don’t know exactly what has happened in his case but if everything goes well and if he is acquitted, I will surely work with him in the future.”
Sajid is also preparing a directorial comeback with 100%, a film that counts John Abraham, Riteish Deshmukh, Nora Fatehi and Shehnaaz Gill among its cast.