Actress Payal Ghosh, who has acted in a couple of Telugu and Hindi films, has come out with severe allegations of sexual harassment against film director Anurag Kashyap saying that he had forced himself on her and even tried to penetrate into her.
@anuragkashyap72 has forced himself on me and extremely badly. @PMOIndia @narendramodi ji, kindly take action and let the country see the demon behind this creative guy. I am aware that it can harm me and my security is at risk. Pls help! https://t.co/1q6BYsZpyx
— Payal Ghosh (@iampayalghosh) September 19, 2020
In an interview to a news channel, she calls Anurag Kashyap as a ‘f***ing hypocrite’ for ‘wearing the flag of women liberation’ and talking about ‘patriarchy’.
In her video Payal says “I went to meet him and the next day when he took me to the other room, he opened his zip and tried to force his c**k (penis) inside my vagina by opening the nada of my Salwar Kameez. He said it was okay and all the actresses who worked with him such as Huma Qureshi, Richa Chadha, Mahi Gil.” Anurag Kashyap had apparently told Payal that “they were just a call away” and whenever he called them, they “would come running and suck his c**k”.
Payal shares in her video that she conveyed to Anurag about her being not comfortable and that she was not physically, mentally or emotionally ready to do it. She says that she managed to get away by saying that she will return to have a ‘good time’.
She said that until that moment, ‘everything happened’.
Anurag had told her that these things are ‘normal’ in film industry and that ‘being in a physical relationship was not a big deal’.
She said that for such things the wavelength between the two individuals should match and nobody is a prostitute just to come and sleep with someone for getting a chance to act in films.
Payal goes on to say in the video that she was called again. “He said he wanted to discuss something with me. I went to his place, he was drinking whiskey or scotch, whatever I don’t know. It was smelling very bad. It could easily have been charas or ganja, drugs I don’t know, I don’t have any idea about it but I am not stupid” and had tried to persuade her to sleep with him.
Anuraga also supposedly told Payal that Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bacchhan still calls him for work for him or his son, Karan Johar calls him every day to consult him on everything and that she should not ‘deny’ or ‘throw tantrums’ about getting involved with him that will benefit her.
“Finally he ended up opening up his zip and tried to open my clothes and forcefully tried to push it into me. I wanted to say many times but everybody told me not to say and that they are very scary people. They might do acid attack or kidnap you. We have heard so many things about them. How they trouble other actors. So, don’t talk about it. It happened with me in 2014-15.”
The National Commission for Woman has taken cognizance of Payal’s video and has asked her to send a detailed complaint.
You may send me the detailed complaint at chairperson-ncw@nic.in and @NCWIndia will look into it. @iampayalghosh https://t.co/KZzPwkmuwZ
— Rekha Sharma (@sharmarekha) September 19, 2020
Anurag Kashyap in a series of tweets has called these allegations baseless.