At a film event, Akshay Kumar was asked whether he would be willing to work with director Sajid Khan and the Mission Mangal star answered that he was open to the idea. Sajid was accused of sexual assault by multiple women during India’s #MeToo movement in 2018 and as a result stepped down from the director’s chair of Housefull 4, which was in production at the time.
Writer of the series Farhad Samji took over as the director and the first trailer for the film was released on Monday 27 September. At the trailer launch of Housefull 4 on the same day, Akshay was asked the Sajid Khan question by a journalist.
Here’s what he had to say.
I don’t know what has happened with everything... but if he’s acquitted, surely I will.Akshay Kumar
Akshay was also asked why Sajid’s name was not credited as director on the film, considering he filmed 60% of the film, Akshay replied that it was a call taken by the studio.
In another question, Akshay was asked what had changed in the industry since #MeToo broke out a year back.
This was his response:
There have been a lot of changes... Every company that I know nowadays there are sexual harassment officers and they make sure that nothing goes wrong. They’re there to take the complaint. There’s been a lot of security done and we don’t want any kind of misbehaviour happening.Akshay Kumar
Nana Patekar, who was accused of sexual harassment by fellow actor Tanushree Dutta, was part of Housefull 4 as well and also dropped out of the film eventually.
Alongside Akshay, Housefull 4 stars Bobby Deol, Riteish Deshmukh, Kriti Sanon, Kirti Kharbanda and Pooja Hegde.
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