Veteran actor Nana Patekar has decided to send a legal notice to Tanushree Dutta following her allegations that the he sexually harassed her on the sets of a film in 2008.
According to a report in the Hindustan Times, Patekar’s lawyer Rajendra Shikodkar, dismissed Dutta’s allegations calling them false and untrue.
“We are in process of sending legal notice to Tanushree Dutta as she has made false allegations and has spoken untruth. We will send the notice later today which will be basically a notice seeking apology for her statements,” said Shirodkar.
Meanwhile, Nana, who reportedly earlier laughed off the matter, speaking to an Indian media outlet from Jaislamer said that he will host a press conference once he goes back to Mumbai.
“I am shooting in Jaisalmer and as soon as I am back in Mumbai on the 7th or 8th of October, I will hold a press in Mumbai, where you can ask me anything you want,” he said. “I want to look into the camera and answer every question. You can ask me whatever you want to know about this. I have no reason to hide.”
Nana also denied Dutta’s claim that he insisted on the inclusion of a lewd step:
“It’s all about what do you want to believe. Do you really think ke me itka ghanerda manoos aahe? (Do you think I am so disgusting?) Do people not know me at all? I don’t need others to validate my good conduct. I can barely dance and it’s not even something I like doing. Why would I ask someone to introduce some lewd step? There are 500 people on set!”
He concluded, “These are some serious allegations. In a situation like this, I can either deny them and say that’s it a lie or take her to court for maligning me. What else can I do? But I will speak in detail once I am back and I hope people don’t jump to conclusions before that. That is not right.”
Dutta had recently alleged that Patekar misbehaved with her on the sets of the film Horn ‘Ok’ Pleassss.
She alleged that she was harassed by Patekar while shooting for a special dance number in the movie. The former beauty queen also accused dance choreographer Ganesh Acharya of teaming up against her.
“He was being aggressive and was pushing me around. I complained about him, but it was not heard. They (film crew) were forcing me to do an intimate step. My contract stated that it was a solo dance sequence, and it was not supposed to be a duet. It was a way to manipulate me. This was the whole harassment situation going on,” Dutta said.
The Aashiq Banaya Aapne actor further alleged that she and her family were attacked after she refused to perform the intimate step, which eventually resulted in her not doing the film. She was replaced by Rakhi Sawant.
Many notable Bollywood celebrities including Priyanka Chopra, Sonam Kapoor, Farhan Akhtar, Parineeti Chopra and Swara Bhasker extended support to Dutta.