Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, who launched the first trailer of the fourth film in his hit comedy franchise Housefull, has made it clear that he will collaborate with filmmaker Sajid Khan in future if the latter is acquitted of the sexual harassment charges levelled against him by multiple women last year, under #MeToo Movement.
Akshay was interacting with the media at the trailer launch, along with co-actors Riteish Deshmukh, Kriti Sanon, Pooja Hegde, Kriti Kharbanda, Chunky Pandey and Bobby Deol, besides the film’s director Farhad Samji and producer Sajid Nadiadwala on Friday in Mumbai.
Filmmaker Sajid Khan had directed the first two instalments of the Housefull franchise and was supposed to direct the fourth film, too. However, he had to step down in October last year after he was accused of sexual harassment by three women, including actress Saloni Chopra. Writer Farhad Samji came on board to finish the film. Besides two films in the Housefull series, Akshay has also collaborated with Sajid on Heyy Babyy in the past. “I don’t know exactly what has happened in his case but if everything goes well and if he is acquitted, I will surely work with him in the future,” declared Akshay.
{{/usCountry}}Filmmaker Sajid Khan had directed the first two instalments of the Housefull franchise and was supposed to direct the fourth film, too. However, he had to step down in October last year after he was accused of sexual harassment by three women, including actress Saloni Chopra. Writer Farhad Samji came on board to finish the film. Besides two films in the Housefull series, Akshay has also collaborated with Sajid on Heyy Babyy in the past. “I don’t know exactly what has happened in his case but if everything goes well and if he is acquitted, I will surely work with him in the future,” declared Akshay.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier reports had suggested that Sajid Khan had directed 60 per cent of Housefull 4 before being asked to stepped down, so shouldn’t he be given credit along with Farhad Samji? “It is true that he has directed 60 per cent of the film but this call has been taken by the studio (Fox Star),” explained Akshay.
It’s been a year since #MeToo Movement started in Bollywood. Asked if he noticed any change, Akshay replied: “There have been a lot of changes. I think every other production company which I know -- even in Sajid Nadidadwala’s company nowadays -- there is an officer who deals with sexual harassment cases. They make sure that nothing goes wrong. They are there to accept complaints and they know everything what is happening. There is a lot of security. We don’t want any misbehaviour in our company or film sets.”
Housefull 4 is an upcoming Indian reincarnation comedy scheduled to release on October 25.
(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)
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