Rajkumar Hirani – Leading Bollywood Director of Sanju, PK and Munna Bhai series fame has been accused of sexual assault by a co-worker. The ‘alleged victim’ accused Rajkumar Hirani of sexually assaulting her for a period of six months, between March and September 2018, while filming his last movie Sanju, HuffPost. Rajkumar Hirani has denied these allegations in a statement issued by his lawyer.
According to the report, the woman wrote an email to Vidhu Vinod Chopra (producer of Sanju), his wife and film critic, Anupama Chopra and Abhijat Joshi screenwriter of Sanju alleging that Rajkumar Hirani had assaulted her during the post-production of the film.
“I remember forming these words on my lips – “Sir. This is wrong… Because of this power structure. You being the absolute power and me being a mere assistant, a nobody – I will never be able to express myself to you. My mind, body and heart were grossly violated that night and for the next 6 months,” the email read.
In an interview to HuffPost, the woman said that she had “no other choice but to be polite to him” because her job was at stake. “I had no choice but to be polite to him. I was worried that if I left midway, it would be impossible to find another job in this industry if he were to speak badly about my work,” the woman said. “Because if Hirani said I wasn’t good, everybody would listen. My future would be in jeopardy,” she added.
Denying the allegations in a statement, Rajkumar Hirani said that he was “shocked” when the allegations were brought to his notice about two months ago and without any delay, he wanted to take the matter to a committe or a legal body. “I was completely shocked when these allegations were brought to my notice about two months back. I had suggested immediately that it is essential to take this matter to any committee or any legal body. The complainant has chosen to go to the media instead. I want to very strongly state that this is a false malicious and mischievous story being spread with the sole intention of destroying my reputation,” the filmmaker said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Mr Hirani’s lawyer also told HuffPost that the allegations were “false and completely unjustified”. “At the outset, our client states that the allegations made against him are false, mischievous, scandalous, motivated and defamatory,” the statement read.
After the allegations against Rajkumar Hirani came to fore, his name has been dropped from the posters of Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga, HuffPost reported. Rajkummar Hirani was the co-producer of the film, starring Sonam Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao and Juhi Chawla.
