After accusing filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee of asking sexual favours from her, actor Payal Rohatgi has lashed out at his friend, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, for speaking against her.
“Anurag has called me unstable. What gave him the right to say that? He can support his friend and say that he trusts him but he cannot say things against me. These guys give work to each other’s girlfriends. Dibakar gave Anurag’s girlfriend, actor Kalki Koechlin a soft drink advertisement that he directed.”
In response to Payal’s allegations on Dibakar, Anurag had said, “I stand by Dibakar. Among this generation of directors, not a single director will cast anyone just because he gets to have sex with that person.”
Payal, 26, also accuses Anurag of practicing casting couch. “What is Dev D? What is The Girl In Yellow Boots? (films made by Anurag, starring Kalki) This is casting couch. Anurag left his wife for Kalki. People who live in glass houses should not throw stones at others,” she says.
Payal also says she was shocked when some quarters called her disclosure a publicity stunt. “I am very angry. It is not a publicity stunt. One girl stands up against something like this in the industry and this is how they react,” she fumes.
Payal adds that her family stands by her. “My grandmother said to me, ‘I would have hit him’ (Dibakar). My mother also commended me for speaking up against him.”
Payal also reconciled with her father recently. “We had not spoken since 15 years. But it’s great to finally bury our misunderstandings. I talk to him every day and call him ‘papa’,” she says.