Vikas Bahl forcibly tried to kiss me | Another actress accuses director
Vikas Bahl, director of the critically acclaimed and commercially successful Kangana Ranaut starrer Queen, are piling up. Days after a former employee of Phantom Films’ and Kangana came out with their stories of sexual harassment at the hands of Bahl, another actress has talked about her experience with him on the condition of anonymity.Kangana Ranaut had accused Vikas Bahl of sexual harassment as well.
The actress said “pretending to be drunk” is Bahl’s modus operandi. “That’s what he does. Pretending to be drunk then saying things like, ‘I didn’t do anything, did you do something?’ This is why I am not requesting him for work, and have boycotted him entirely socially and professionally.” The actor went on to say that Bahl’s ex-wife knew of his behaviour. She continued: “His ex-wife knew about his shenanigans too. He’s basically ruined her life… He got fired from some places he worked at before on similar ground. My question is why start a company with a repeat offender when you know?”
According to a report of Miss Malini, an actress has claimed that Bahl tried to ‘forcibly kiss’ her at a party. The actor was quoted as saying that she found Bahl “dodgy” and made sure she was never alone around him. “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,” she said, adding, “At least 20 other people were at this party. I left in a rush and went to my boyfriend’s house because I was so disgusted but he kept sending me texts – saying ‘Why did you leave, I could have dropped you’. I wasn’t drinking, smoking, smoking up or doing anything. I had just had my dinner and gone with some writer buddies. That’s his strategy, he pretends to be drunk.”
Phantom Films, co-founded by Vikas Bahl , Anurag Kashyap, Madhu Mantena and Vikramaditya Motwane, was dissolved on Saturday reportedly in the light of accusations by a former employee of the company. In a Huffington Post report, she detailed how Bahl had sexually harassed her during a pre-release function of Bombay Velvet in Goa in 2015. Soon after, Kangana Ranaut came out with her Me Too story of how Bahl would bury his head in her neck and take in the smell of her hair.
Motwane and Kashyap apologised to the victim on Twitter on Sunday. While Motwane called Vikas Bahl a “sexual offender”, Kashyap said he “named and shamed” the director in media last year. Both filmmakers promised such predatory behaviour will not happen under their watch in the future.