Akshay Kumar’s Housefull 4 co-star Riteish Deshmukh has supported his stand on cancelling the shoot of the film that was scheduled for Friday while he also addressed the #MeToo movement that has encompassed India since the last month. Housefull 4 director Sajid Khan has been accused of sexual harassment by actress Saloni Chopra and a senior journalist and after being made aware of it, Akshay announced his decision of abandoning shoot.
In his statement, Riteish also extended support to the women who have shared their stories, saying that “all need to be heard and not judged.”
Read Riteish’s statement:
https://twitter.com/Riteishd/status/1050732353516068864
Earlier today, Sajid expounded his “moral responsibility” in a statement as he announced his decision of “stepping down” as the director of Housefull 4 until the charges are “allayed” by him.
https://twitter.com/SimplySajidK/status/1050643527661584384
Soon after, Sajid’s sister filmmaker-choreographer Farah Khan, speaking of the “heartbreaking time” for her family, said that he will have to compensate if at all he has “behaved in this manner”.
https://twitter.com/TheFarahKhan/status/1050695932017295360
Apart from being directed by Sajid, Housefull 4 co-stars Nana Patekar, who has been accused of sexual harassment by Tanushree Dutta. The #MeToo movement, in fact, was escalated by Tanushree’s accusation against Patekar where several women outed filmmakers and actors as their alleged sexual predators. So far, Alok Nath, Subhash Ghai, Vikas Bahl and Rajat Kapoor have also been accused of sexual harassment.
