The glamour world has as many dark secrets as there are success stories. Harassment, casting couch, and nepotism are just some of the issues that have seen so much concern. Issues like actresses asked to shoot intimate scenes, adding nudity scenes, etc., and asking them to do uncomfortable scenes is a big issue in the industry. And our beloved actress Chitrangada Singh has been a victim of the same.
During the #MeToo movement, Chitrangada Singh shared her story on the sets of Kushan Nandy’s 2016 film Babumoshai Bandookbaaz, also starring actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui. The actress was reportedly asked to “take off her sari, get on top of her hero and rub herself”. According to Bollywood Hungama, Singh said that Siddiqui waited for the matter to settle down instead of supporting her as the producers and the director continued to harass her for a particular scene.
“I pleaded that this was not in my comfort zone. I said I was wearing only a petticoat underneath the saree. The director told me not to fuss and just do what was required. I was intimidated, bullied and threatened into doing it. Some crew members were mortified. But, Nawaz just sat there waiting for the storm to blow over,” she said. The actress further added, “Nawaz could’ve taken a stand against my harassment. He didn’t. When empowered men in the film industry do not take a stand, the harassers feel encouraged.”
Chitrangada also slammed women in the industry saying, “It is true that women are the worst enemies of their own kind. Even when I was being harassed on the sets of Babumoshai Bandookbaaz, the film’s lady producer was there making things worse for me.”
Later, Kushan Nandy’s business partner, Kiran Shroff opened up about their version of the story and said, “I am going on record. Chitrangda’s allegations are incorrect. Add this to the fact that she started reporting late on the set from Day 3. I had no problems with her last year when we shot a schedule with her in West Bengal. If I had, I wouldn’t have brought her to Lucknow. Chitrangda called for a meeting with Nawaz and Kushan and asked for changes in the script. She said her suggestions were non-negotiable, else she would leave the film. Are you also aware that she has been still texting Nawaz that he should convince Kushan to make some changes in the script?”
He further stated, “In fact, Chitrangda was the one who suggested that she wanted to wear a low-cut blouse. She told us that it would be apt for the scene where Nawaz sees me for the first time and gets enamoured by me. She also said that she wanted to tear off one button from her blouse and fix a pin there. The worst is her allegation against Kushan that he told her ‘Get on top of Nawaz, Tange ragdo’. It was just that Chitrangda wasn’t getting the scene right. We have a great script and for Chitrangda’s information, we are not making any erotic film as she’s imagining. We never made one till date, so why make one now?”
