Akshay Kumar on #MeToo accused Sajid Khan: Will work with him if he is acquitted

The trailer of Housefull 4 was launched in Mumbai on Friday. The franchise comedy was initially directed by Sajid Khan, who was sacked from the project in 2018 after sexual harassment allegations surfaced against the director during the #MeToo movement in Bollywood. In his place, writer Farhad Samji was brought in to finish the film and is credited as the sole director of Housefull 4.

Asked why Sajid isn’t sharing credit with Farhad, Akshay told the press, “It’s right that Sajid has directed 60% of the film. This call (of credit share) is a studio call. They have to decide what is going to happen.”

Akshay said he does not know the status of Sajid’s case, but will work with the filmmaker if he is acquitted. Asked what changes has he observed in the industry post the #MeToo outbreak, Akshay noted, “There have been a lot of changes. In every company I know, even in Sajid Nadiadwala’s production, there are sexual harassment officers to make sure nothing goes wrong. There’s a lot of security done. We don’t want any kind of misbehaving happening.”

Sajid Khan had directed the first two installments in the Housefull franchise. He’d also worked with Akshay on Heyy Babyy.

Housefull 4 is themed around reincarnation. The film also stars Riteish Deshmukh, Bobby Deol, Kriti Sanon, Kriti Kharbanda, Pooja Hegde and Rana Daggubati. The comedy entertainer is set to release on October 25, 2019.