Cinematographer Pratik Shah, who has worked on high profile projects like Jubilee (2023), CTRL (2024) and more recently on Neeraj Ghaywan's Homebound, has been accused of being “highly manipulative” and “emotionally abusive” by independent filmmaker Abhinav Singh, who stated that his allegations are based on the testimonies of multiple women.
Since the call out by Abhinav, Pratik has deleted his Instagram account.
Taking to Instagram, Abhinav wrote, “To my female friends: Please be cautious around a certain cinematographer I've encountered-he's highly manipulative and emotionally abusive based on my personal experience. If you want details, feel free to DM me.”
In his subsequent stories, Abhinav shared Pratik’s identity. “The number of women who've reached out to me is honestly frightening. I feel like I'm having a Margot Robbie moment from Bombshell. I will not be silenced. His name is Pratik Shah. He's a cinematographer.”
Abhinav said that over 20 women reached out to him sharing stories of their troubling encounter with Pratik. “I’ve spoken out, and now I’m hearing from others — people who’ve felt silenced or sidelined. It’s heartbreaking. The patterns are undeniable. Many have called him a predator.”
Another independent filmmaker, Srishti Riya Jain shared a Reddit post from four years ago on her stories, which mentions an incident involving Pratik. She wrote, “Everyone pretending to act shocked, scandalised and suddenly awoken from their slumber, this man who worked on one of the 'most empathetic' films of the year as per their interviews at Cannes, has been on the prowl since 4 years. And this post about him on Reddit is one of the top search results if you google him. But well, the film industry has a selective attention span and gaze when people are acclaimed.”
Pratik has not issued a statement in this regard nor have the makers of Homebound have commented on the controversy.