After Kangana Ranaut accused Queen director Vikas Bahl of sexual misconduct on the sets of the film, another female actor anonymously told Miss Malini that Bahl had once tried to forcibly kiss her.
A former Phantom employee’s allegations of sexual assault against Bahl, one of the co-founders were reportedly one of the reasons of the downfall of the company.
As the MeToo and Time's Up movements which began in Hollywood a year ago gather momentum in India, best-selling authors to filmmakers to senior media editors and other public figures across industries are being named and shamed.
The unnamed actor told Miss Malini, “He’s (Vikas Bhal) has always been dodgy, so I’ve never hung out with him alone for that reason. One day he was having a party where a lot of people I knew were going so I felt safe. But he got really drunk (or pretended to be) and he forcibly tried to kiss me on the lips, I pushed him and left immediately and he pretended not to see me leaving. At least 20 other people were at this party. I left in a rush went to my boyfriends house because I was so disgusted but he kept sending me texts – saying ‘Why did you leave, I could have dropped you’.”
She went on to say that he was fired from many workplaces before on similar grounds.
Queen actor Nayani Dixit, who played Kangana’s friend in the film also accused director Vikas Bahl of inappropriate behaviour during the film’s shoot. “Whatever the girl has accused Vikas Bahl is not at all wrong because he also tried his hand on me. I literally told him that ‘main tumhe maarungi if you do this again’. So I am sure he did the same with the girl in question as well,” Nayani Dixit said in an interview to Bollywood Hungama.
“We were shooting for the London Thumakda song and in the crew, there was a 21-year-old local Delhi girl who was in the costume department. Vikas flirted even with her and she was very uncomfortable and she later confided to me that why this person is always after me. Even Kangana Ranaut was witness to this drama and even she was taken aback. She remarked, ‘Tu pagal hai kya?’” Dixit added.
She also said that signing up for Queen was the biggest mistake of her life.
Source: Miss Malini, Bollywood Hungama
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)