Sona Mohapatra accuses Kailash Kher of sexual harassment
Sona Mohapatra has accused singer-composer Kailash Kher of sexual misconduct, claiming he once placed his hands on her thigh. Mohapatra, who is married to singer-composer Ram Sampath, tweeted on Tuesday about Kher’s misbehaviour during an official meet.
“I met Kailash for coffee in Prithvi Café to discuss a forthcoming concert where both our bands were playing and after the usual, a hand on my thigh with lines like, ‘You’re so beautiful’, ‘Feel so good that a musician got you (Ram) not an actor’. I left not soon after,” Mohapatra wrote. She said it did not deter Kher.
“On landing in Dhaka and on my way to the venue with the organisers, keeps calling me and when I don’t pick up, calls the organisers phone to get through to me and asks me to ‘skip’ the sound check and join him in his room instead to ‘catch up’.
“The fact that Kailash had sung in my studios and for many projects in which I was the producer and knew me to be as strong as I am or that he had only recently taken a favour from my partner Ram Sampath to create a personal track for him didn’t stop him. The hubris of such men,” she added.
The singer asked Kher how many women will he apologise to as if he starts now, it will take him a “lifetime”. Kher’s name cropped up in the ongoing #MeToo movement for the first time earlier this week after a female journalist recounted how he allegedly misbehaved with her during an interview.
She added that it would “take a lifetime” for him to apologise to all the women he has misbehaved with. “The shamelessness of this man. To call himself ‘simple’, ‘devoted to music’ & even claiming amnesia. If this chap could dare try this stunt with me, it’s a disease that he has & I can vouch for not only these two women’s stories but hundreds more he would’ve have preyed on,” she wrote.
(1) I met Kailash for coffee in Prithvi Café to discuss a forthcoming concert where both our bands were playing & after the usual, a hand on my thigh with lines likes, your so beautiful, feel so good that a ‘musician got you’ (Ram) not an actor. I left not soon after. (1) https://t.co/Cfz8Hf4sdP
— SONA (@sonamohapatra) October 9, 2018
(2) That did not deter Kailash Kher though. On landing in Dhaka & on my way to the venue with the organisers, keeps calling me & when I don’t pick up, calls the organisers phone to get through to me & asks me to ‘skip’ the soundcheck & join him in his room instead to ‘catch up’ https://t.co/beBehXBLup
— SONA (@sonamohapatra) October 9, 2018
3)The fact that Kailash had sung in my studios & for many projects in which I was the producer & knew me to be as strong as i am or that he had only recently taken a favour from my partner @RamSampathLive to create a personal track for him didn’t stop him. #TheHubris of such #men https://t.co/GLHvCsIPDR
— SONA (@sonamohapatra) October 9, 2018