Aamir Khan steps away from Mogul; Subhash Kapoor dropped as director

Aamir Khan will not be a part of Subhash Kapoor's upcoming film on T-Series founder Gulshan Kumar 
Aamir Khan steps away from Mogul; Subhash Kapoor dropped as director

Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao on Wednesday announced their decision to step away from an upcoming film in light of a sub-judice sexual molestation case being faced by a person associated with the project.

Although they refrained from naming the project or the person, it was assumed that the film in question was the upcoming Gulshan Kumar biopic titled Mogul. The film’s tentative director, Subhash Kapoor, is facing rape and molestation charges in an ongoing case. In 2014, actor Geetika Tyagi filed an FIR against Kapoor claiming he raped her in 2012. The actor also released a YouTube video in which she was seen slapping Kapoor and crying. Kapoor was briefly arrested but later released on bail.

Aamir and Kiran’s statement read, “As creative people we have been committed to foregrounding and finding solutions to social issues, and at Aamir Khan Productions we have always had a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual misconduct and predatory behaviour of any kind. We strongly condemn any act of sexual harassment, and equally we condemn any and all false accusations in such cases. Two weeks ago, when traumatic #MeToo stories began emerging, it was brought to our attention that someone we were about to begin work with has been accused of sexual misconduct. Upon enquiry we found that this particular case is subjudice, and that the legal process is in motion. We are not an investigative agency, nor are we in any position to pass judgement on anyone - that is for the police and judiciary to do.  So, without casting any aspersions on anyone involved in this case, and without coming to any conclusions about these specific allegations, we have decided to step away from this film. We do not want our action to reflect in any manner on the people involved in this case. We believe that this is an opportunity for the film industry to introspect and take concrete steps towards change. For far too long women have faced the brunt of sexual exploitation. It has to stop. In this regard we are committed to doing any and everything to make our film industry a safe and happy one to work in.”

Acknowledging Aamir and Kiran’s decision to step away from the film, Subhash Kapoor released a statement saying, “I understand and respect Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao's decision. Since matter is subjudice, I intend to prove my innocence in the court of law. But I do want to raise a question - is secretly filming a crying woman without her consent and knowledge and uploading it on social media not harassment or abuse? Or is it fine if she is related to someone who is "allegedly accused" of a misconduct. If your answer is latter then for me it's nothing less then a khaap panchayat mentality.”

Meanwhile, according to a report in PTI, Subhash Kapoor has been dropped as the director of Mogul by producer Bhushan Kumar. T-Series is yet to release an official statement on the matter. 

Subhash Kapoor has directed films like Phas Gaye Re Obama, Jolly LLB, Guddu Rangeela and Jolly LLB 2 while Aamir Khan's upcoming release is Thugs of Hindostan

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