Tanushree Dutta accuses Nana Patekar of sexual misconduct, criticizes Akshay Kumar and Rajinikanth for working with the actor

Aashiq Banaya Apne actor and former Miss India Tanushree Dutta has come out with allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct against veteran actor Nana Patekar. In a recently-aired interview with Zoom TV, Dutta claimed that Patekar tried to misbehave with her on the sets of the 2009 film Horn 'OK' Pleasss.

"I want to take names - actor Nana Patekar, producer Sami Siddiqui, director Rakesh Sarang and choreographer Ganesh Acharya. Nana Patekar misbehaved with me and demaded to do an intimate step with me in a song, which was not part of my contract. It was supposed to be a solo sequence of mine,” Tanushree said in the interview.

Back in 2008, when the alleged incident occurred, Dutta had reportedly filed a complaint with Cine and Television Artistes Association (CINTAA) for damage to property and reputation. The actor was subsequently replaced in Horn 'OK' Pleasss by Rakhi Sawant. Nana Patekar, meanwhile, had refuted all accusations against him.

"Everyone knows about Nana Patekar that he has always been disrespectful towards women. People in the industry know about his background... that he has beaten actresses, he has molested them, his behaviour with women has always been crude but no publication has printed anything about it," Tanushree alleged in the Zoom TV interview, adding that if A-listers like Akshay Kumar (in Welcome) and Rajinikanth (in Kaala) continue to work with Patekar, then there will be no hope for a movement against him.

In an earlier interview with News18, Tanushree had spoken about the difficulties of initiating a movement like #MeToo or Time's Up in the Indian film industry.

"The thing is that our country has become so hypocritical, and people constantly ask why #MeToo movement is not happening in India, it won’t happen unless and until you’ll acknowledge what happened with me in 2008,” she told News18. "The entire industry saw what happened but there was not one word of condemnation from anybody. Every single person in this country remembers my incident and this was something on national TV for three days but even today there’s a stoic silence on that. So, my question is, ‘Who is going to believe these hypocrites?’ These are the people who stand up and raise their voice against women empowerment."