Vikas Bahl sexual harassment allegations: Anurag Kashyap apologises to victim
Mumbai, Oct 7 (IBNS): Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has said he knew of the sexual abuse allegations made against co-owner of Phantom Films Vikas Bahl which were levelled against him by a former employee of the company.
Kashyap, in a statement issued by him on the social media, apologised to the woman.
"I am deeply, truly sorry to the woman in question," Anurag Kashyap said in a statement.
My statement in light of the recent HuffPost article and breaking up of Phantom . There are two pages.. pic.twitter.com/WCAsaj6uFR
— Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) October 7, 2018
Anurag Kashyap issued the statement after Huffington Post India published an article on Saturday giving details of the victim’s account of assault.
In his statement, Anurag Kashyap said he was misguided by those who were in-charge of the legal department.
He said the victim had decided not to tell him about the incident.
"She put herself through personal hell to protect me and I could not because I was unfortunately ill-advised that there was little I could do,” he said.
Anurag also changed his Twitter display picture to a black banner on Sunday.
Phantom was a dream, a glorious one and all dreams come to an end . We did our best and we succeeded and we failed. But i know for sure we will come out of this stronger, wiser and will continue to pursue our dreams our own individual ways. We wish each other the best.
— Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) October 5, 2018
Kashyap claimed in his statement that he 'named and shamed' Bahl in film circles.
He said the Phantom Films contract did not allow him to fire Bahl from the company.
Anurag Kashyap said he suspended Bahl as well as revoked his signing authority.
The film director also wrote in the statement that the film industry is singularly 'ill-equipped to handle matters such as sexual harassment'
Meanwhile, actress Kangana Ranaut said she believed the victim and her charges against Bahl.
Kangana had worked with Bahl in Queen.
"Totally believe her. Even though Vikas was married back in 2014 when we were filming Queen, he bragged about having casual sex with a new partner every other day. I don't judge people and their marriages but you can tell when addiction becomes sickness. He partied every night and shamed me for sleeping early and not being cool enough," the actress told India Today.
Speaking about her own experience, she said: "I often told him off. He was scared of me but still every time we met socially greeted and hugged each other, he'd bury his face in my neck and hold me really tight and breathe in the smell of my hair. It took me great amount of strength and effort to pull myself out of his embrace. He'd say, 'I love how you smell K'."
The Queen actress further said: "I could tell something is wrong with him. I believe this girl."
Image: Wikimedia Commons
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