In another case of sexual harassment surfacing in Bollywood, two women have come out and alleged that Indian actor and filmmaker Rajat Kapoor made sexual advances towards them.
Last weekend, Sandhya Menon, an Indian journalist, took to Twitter to expose all the men in the industry who sexually harassed her and also encouraged other women to come forward and do the same.
So. Ladies. Doing this exercise because I’m MAD at how bad women are recognising assholes.
I want to break this apology down so you can spot this behaviour next time and recognise it for what it is — someone insincere still trying to get into your pants. https://t.co/3UWqEVda4T
— Sandhya Menon (@TheRestlessQuil) October 5, 2018
Back in 2005, I was 25, and taking shelter from the flood in Bombay at a colleague’s house, @manojanthikad sent me a text, “I want to fuck you.” He took my number from a mutual friend and decided to charm me when Bombay was drowning with that approach. https://t.co/andMvyuV5X
— Sandhya Menon (@TheRestlessQuil) October 5, 2018
Following a series of tweets, where she asked women to come forward and call out men who have made “unwanted advances” towards them and name and shame the harassers.
All threads at the bottom where I’ve called out men who made unwanted advances.
I’m not looking to pursue this legally or have them reported to the police. At best, this is a civil offence.
What I want though is
1. for them to be held accountable
2. For these workplaces to— Sandhya Menon (@TheRestlessQuil) October 5, 2018
Following her tweet, Sandhya received responses where people started sharing their stories of harassment.
Moreover, the Indian journalist received messages where two women came out and shared screenshots of the actor Rajat Kapoor making inappropriate sexual advances towards.
I don’t even know any more.
Filmmaker Rajat Kapoor
Two separate and different accounts pic.twitter.com/nBjNOsun3j
— Sandhya Menon (@TheRestlessQuil) October 7, 2018
During an interview with a Times of India journalist, Kapoor asked her, “Are you as sexy as you sound?” and continued to make her feel uncomfortable throughout the duration of the call. She further said that despite being given an option to not file the interview by the editor, she did it anyway, only later realised she shouldn’t have done so.
Another shared that “he wanted me to shoot a film for him in an empty house” and inquired if she knew of any. It was only after the conversation that she realised what he meant.
Following the allegations, the actor then took to his Twitter to write an apology.
“All my life I have tried to be a decent man, to do the right thing. If however, I have slipped and through my actions or words caused pain or hurt or trauma to absolutely anybody, please accept my apology,” he tweeted.
In the same thread, he further said, “I am sorry from the bottom of my heart- and sad that I was the cause of this hurt to another human being. If there is one thing more important to me than even my work, it is to be a good human being. And I have tried to be that person. And now, I will try harder.”
I am sorry from the bottom of my heart- and sad that I was the cause of this hurt
to another human being.If there is one thing more important to me than even my work,
it is to be a good human being.
And I have tried to be that person.
And now, I will try harder.— Rajat Kapoor (@mrrajatkapoor) October 7, 2018
Earlier, Tanushree Dutta came forward with sexual harassment allegations against Nana Patekar, after which women in India have been coming forward to bring forth the men who harassed/assaulted them in their respective fields.
