Actor Rajshri Deshpande on Tuesday wrote an open letter to Payal Ghosh, the actor who alleged sexual misconduct against filmmaker Anurag Kashyap. Deshpande said if the director has wronged somebody he will be punished no matter what. She also mentioned that if however false accusations are reported against him, then the sanctity of the #MeToo movement will "crumble". On Saturday, Ghosh took to Twitter and claimed that the Gangs of Wasseypur director Kashyap had sexually harassed her in 2014 during an audition. The actress blamed the filmmaker had "forced himself" on her, an allegation Kashyap called "baseless".
Deshpande, who has worked with Kashyap in Sacred Games and Choked, wrote that when everyone in the industry is defending the filmmaker, she wants to understand and listen to Ghosh’s voice too. “We all know that MeToo started across the globe to give voice to each of us from different backgrounds. I think we need such movements for each suppressed voice in the world," she expressed.
Ghosh, in an interview with ABN Telugu said that during an audition, Kashyap took her to a room, and "he opened his zip and tried to force his c**k inside my v****a by opening nada of my salwar kameez."
“If Anurag has done something wrong then we have a system to take action for it but if the acquisitions are false then MeToo mass movement will start crumbling and will lose its aim,” she tweeted. The actor expressed that if the accusations are false, then it might “damage so many other voices who have suffered”.
“Don’t you think so it was derogatory and defamatory? I want to know how you cope up with this experience for six years and got strength to put it back and work. I know how difficult it is to go through harassment, it’s not easy to forget the extremely painful incident.” Deshpande said, adding that she hoped Ghosh is able to open up “but maybe after few years when you will realise what had happened.”
Also Read: Payal Ghosh says Anurag Kashyap ‘forced himself on me’ Smriti Irani makes statement
The Sacred Games actor Deshpande further added, "I hope you will be able to reflect whether it was your truth, suffering or race to be part of current influential race."
The actor concluded her letter saying," I love my Indian film industry. I know it has its flaws and it’s up to us to clean those flaws, but we need to ensure we do that conscientiously. May God give us strength to be truthful and strong."
Earlier, Huma Qureshi opened up about Ghosh’s claims and said she is very angry at her name being dragged into the “mess”. “I feel really angry at being dragged into this mess. I feel angry not just for myself but also every woman whose years of hard work and struggle gets reduced to such baseless conjecture and allegations in their workplace. Please let’s refrain from this narrative,” Qureshi said in the statement shared on Twitter.
Many Bollywood celebrities like Taapsee Pannu and ex-wife Kalki Koechlin have come out in defence of the director.
Also Read: Ex-wives Kalki Koechlin, Aarti Bajaj And Several Bollywood Women Support Anurag Kashyap
Feature Image Credit: NDTV
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