Cinematographer Pratik Shah, who has worked on movies and series like Jubilee, CTRL, Homebound, and others, made it to the headlines on Friday for the wrong reason. Filmmaker Abhinav Singh, based on his personal experiences, called Shah 'highly manipulative' and 'emotionally abusive'. He revealed that after he called out Pratik on Instagram, nearly 20 women reached out to him, recounting their horrifying experiences with the cinematographer and calling him a 'predator'.
While Pratik has deleted his Instagram account and there's no statement from his side, the makers of Homebound, Dharma Productions, has shared a statement regarding him. The statement reads, "At Dharma Productions, we have a zero tolerance policy against inappropriate behavior and sexual harassment towards any individual working with us in any capacity, and we treat sexual harassment cases very seriously."
"Mr. Pratik Shah was a freelancer on the project Homebound and was working on it for a limited period. His engagement with us has been completed. During this limited period, our internal committee for POSH didn’t receive any complaints against him from any cast or crew on our film ‘Homebound’," the statement further read.
Who Is Pratik Shah?
Well, Pratik's IMDb page reveals that he is an American cinematographer from Dallas, Texas. Apart from Jubilee, CTRL, and Homebound, he has worked for many Indian projects like Kaafir (series), Yeh Saali Aashiqui, Chakda 'Xpress (Anushka Sharma's movie, yet to release), and Akka (YRF's series, yet to release). Let's see if the makers of his other upcoming projects will also give a statement regarding the allegations on Pratik.
Homebound At Cannes
Meanwhile, Neeraj Ghaywan's Homebound had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this year, and it was attended by the cast and crew, including Karan Johar, Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa, Janhvi Kapoor, and Neeraj.
The movie received a standing ovation 9-minute standing ovation at the film festival, and the team had become quite emotional about it.
