With India gearing up for an unstoppable wave of the MeToo movement, more and more names are adding up to the list of biggies who have been accused of sexual harassment in the line of work. From Alok Nath to Sajid Khan, no one has escaped the wrath. The recent addition is of top casting agents Mukesh Chhabra and Vicky Sidana.
Also Read: Sajid Khan Too? 3 women accuse filmmaker of sexual misconduct
In four separate incidents, aspiring actors spilled their guts out to Mid-Day. One of the budding actors went for an audition in 2015 revealed that Mukesh Chhabra grabbed her hard and felt her up. She told the tabloid, “He asked me to enact a scene which had the hero and the heroine hugging each other. Under the pretext of showing me how the scene should be performed, he grabbed me hard and felt me up. I could feel his hand on my butt. I was shell-shocked and immediately withdrew. He realised [my trepidation] and started vehemently apologising. At one point, he said, I thought you were fine with it because other girls are.”
Another artist shared a phone recording in which Mukesh can be heard saying, “You’ll have to compromise, get physical with people in power. I am not promising that people ready to compromise get selected. Everyone is ready to compromise. It’s no big deal. We can meet at a hotel tonight.”
As for Vicky Sidana, one of the aspiring shared a horrific incident where the casting agent groped her sister. “Vicky was giving a gyaan session about how I won’t get offers if I don’t offer sex. When I stepped out for a photoshoot, he got chatting with my sister. He then pushed her on the couch and squeezed her breast, all the while muttering, ‘Actress kyun nahin ban jati.’ When I heard about it, I swore I would never see his face again,” she shared her ordeal.
Another actress recounted her story and said Vicky invited her over to his house to discuss a project and sexually harassed her. “The role in question needed me to have a pixie cut. He pulled my hair away from my face to see how I would look in short hair. Then, he grabbed me from the side and tried to hug me. I could feel his d*** hard against my thigh. I somehow managed to run out,” she shared.
