MeToo movement: Nana Patekar reportedly drops out of Housefull 4 after Akshay Kumar’s ultimatum

Actor Nana Patekar has reportedly dropped out of Housefull 4 amid sexual harassment allegations made against him and the film’s director, Sajid Khan, and star Akshay Kumar’s request of an investigation.

Actor Nana Patekar has reportedly dropped out of Housefull 4 amid sexual misconduct accusations made against him by actor Tanushree Dutta.

Bollywood actor Nana Patekar reacts while talking to the media in Mumbai.(PTI)

According to a Times of India report, the actor’s decision comes after the film’s most high-profile star, Akshay Kumar, said he wouldn’t work with proven sexual offenders. Akshay wrote on Twitter that he had requested the film’s producers to halt production on the film, pending an investigation. Akshay’s statement came after similar allegations were made against the film’s director, Sajid Khan.

 

“This is something that requires stringent action,” Akshay wrote. “I will not work with proven offenders and those subjugated to harassment should be heard and given the justice they deserve,” he continued.

Sajid announced that he would be stepping down as director to ‘allay the allegations and prove the truth.’ Three women had come forward with accounts of harassment they’d been subjected to at the hands of the director.

Nana, meanwhile, has denied all allegations made against him. It was Tanushree Dutta’s claims that the National Award-winner had harassed her on the sets of 2008’s Horn OK Pleassss that spurred on India’s #MeToo movement. Nana has filed a defamation suit against her, after which Tanushree slapped him with an FIR.

Days after Tanushree’s claims, Sajid’s sister, director and choreographer Farah Khan, posed with Nana in an Instagram photo. Farah has now said that were the accusations against her brother to be proven true, he would have to atone for his sins. Farah wrote on Twitter, “This is a heartbreaking time for my family. We have to work through some very difficult issues. If my brother has behaved in this manner he has a lot to atone for.I don’t in any way endorse this behavior and Stand in solidarity with any woman who has been hurt (sic).”

 

Several Bollywood personalities such as directors Subhash Ghai, Vikas Bahl and Rajat Kapoor, actors such as Alok Nath and singers such as Kailash Kher and Abhijeet have been named in India’s #MeToo movement.

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