Bollywood bigwigs Katrina Kaif and Amitabh Bachchan are likely to collaborate with Vikas Bahl – who was accused of sexual harassment by a female member of his crew –on his next directorial venture, reported Mumbai Mirror on Monday, 23 March.
Tentatively titled ‘Deadly’, the film is expected to be a ‘slice-of-life’ comedy. This is also the second film that Bahl is directing a film after he was accused of sexual harassment in October 2018. He also directed the Hritik Roshan-starrer ‘Super 30’ , which was based on the life of math-whiz Anand Kumar.
Twitter was quick to call out the two stars on the collaboration, with many saying that #MeToo in Bollywood is a “sham.”
“No one cares for the women. Self-service is the only agenda,” said Priyanka Sharma, on Twitter, adding that #MeToo did nothing to affect the careers of powerful men.
A Twitter user also said that she “won’t be surprised” if Bahl directed a film on the #MeToo movement and managed to get a national award for it. While others argued that those who support the #MeToo movement, should not collaborate with the director.
What Are the Allegations Against Bahl?
The complainant had come out against the 'Queen' director in the wake of the #MeToo movement in October 2018. She alleged that Bahl sexually assaulted her in 2015 and that Anurag Kashyap, one of the partners in the-then production house Phantom Films, had ignored her complaint.
While the complainant resigned from Phantom Films in January 2017, the company itself dissolved in October 2018, after the allegations surfaced.
In June 2019, nearly nine months after Bahl was first accused, the internal complaints committee of Reliance Entertainment gave him a clean chit. Bahl was initially “dropped” from “Super 30” by the co-production company, but was later given credit for directing the film.
(With inputs from Mumbai Mirror.)
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