Last night, veteran TV producer Vinta Nanda sent shockwaves through the industry with a Facebook post detailing horrendous misbehaviour at the hands of actor Alok Nath. Bollywood is still reeling from allegations against Nana Patekar, Vikas Bahl and scores of women speaking out against sexual harassment in what is being called India’s MeToo moment.
Emboldened by this, Vinta shared an account of Alok’s harassment of female actors on the set of her 90s TV show Tara. Not only that, but she accused of Alok of sexually assaulting her on two separate occasions around 20 years ago.
Meanwhile, Alok has responded by saying that he can neither confirm nor deny the incident.
In this exclusive interview, Vinta spoke about the incident, how difficult it was to tell her story, how it affected her career and friendships and much more.
I slept like a baby last night because I had just released a burden I had carried for too many years.Vinta Nanda
She talked about how the recent #MeToo gave her the idea to come out with her story. Her mother discouraged her from doing so she didn’t want her to go through with it again. Then, when she saw CINTAA head Sushant speak out in support of Tanushree, it finally convinced her to go ahead.
In 30 years of being in the industry I had never seen an association speak in favour of a woman.
Vinta also spoke about she had written about the incident earlier in L’Officiel magazine and talked to Times of India about, but the no one in the industry reacted. She also reveals that Alok’s wife Ashu not only ended her friendship with Vinta, but refused to believe her when Vinta told her about Alok.
What gave me the courage to believe that it wasn’t my fault was the MeToo movement.
To end on a heartening note, Vinta confessed that around she received around a thousand calls of support from people in the industry, many of whom felt that they had been subject to similar harassment.
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