Another Bollywood actor has been accused of sexual misconduct allegations, as Indian women continue to speak out about their experiences in the workplace.
Rajat Kapoor, who starred in the 2001 film Monsoon Wedding and has appeared on ITV’s The Good Karma Hospital, has been accused of harassing a woman journalist during a 2007 interview. According to Deadline, Kapoor asked the woman, “Are you as sexy as you sound?” and “Tell me your vital stats.” Kapoor responded by expressing regret for his actions on Twitter:
The news about Kapoor emerges just as Indian filmmaker Vikas Bahl has also been accused of masturbating over a woman crew member from Bombay Velvet, a movie from his Bollywood production group Phantom Films. From Huffington Post India:
Bahl, the woman crew member said, insisted on dropping her to her hotel room on the early hours of 5 May 2015 and pretended to pass out drunk on her bed, only to awaken soon after and masturbate on her.
The woman was alone, vulnerable and recovering from an accident that had left her on crutches for months. She had only just begun to walk unassisted.
The woman reportedly told the other Phantom Film partners about the experience, but quit working there when her concerns were not taken seriously.
Bahl is best known for directing the woman-led Queen, starring the high-profile Kangana Ranaut, who has also spoken out about his inappropriate workplace behavior. According to Variety, Ranaut claims that Bahl, who was then married, used to brag on the set of Queen “about having casual sex with different partners every day” and would “hug her overly tightly.” On Sunday, one of Bahl’s partners at Phantom Film, Anurag Kashyap, released a lengthy statement on Twitter about the allegations and announced the production house would be shutting down.