Bollywood has been talking about #MeToo again lately but not for the right reasons. After accusations and consequences, the entertainment industry is witnessing accused professionals returning back to work. Now, actor Chunky Pandey has spoken up up in defense of director Sajid Khan.
Speaking to Pinkvilla, Pandey said, "The thing is Sajid has always been a very, very outspoken person. He has always been this flamboyant person, what you see is what you get. A lot of people might misunderstand Sajid Khan. Sajid just says things for effect, he doesn’t mean them. I know Sajid since childhood"
In October 2018 Sajid Khan was accused of sexual harassment by several colleagues. Following this, he was issued a notice by The Indian Film and Television Directors' Association. The note read, "Your actions have brought disrepute to Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association. We expect an explanation for such offensive behavior within seven days of the receipt of the notice for further action as per the rules and regulations. In case of no reply, an ex-parte decision would be taken."
Akshay Kumar had also stopped working on Housefull 4 when the accusations came to light. He said that he would not work with a #MeToo accused. As a result, Sajid Khan stepped down from the project and his co-director Farhad Samji took his place. Talking about this, Chunky Pandey said, "Of course, when these allegations came, it was a shocker to everyone, you know it was the season of MeToo, and everyone was getting exposed. So, we really felt bad. We had no option, the producer had a lot of pressure to drop him from the film. Luckily, Farhad Samji agreed to do it. It wasn’t easy but full marks to Sajid Nadiadwala for pulling this off. Of course, we felt bad when we lost Sajid."
Sajid Khan's cousin Farhan Akhtar also spoke up when the accusations were brought to light. He had said, "So pretty much on the first day when three women came out and spoke, I felt it was important for me to speak out. Sajid, being my brother, I need to now work with him, try to figure out how he can see this thing through and how it is that he can make the women who have been affected by his actions, somehow feel better."
Currently, Sajid Khan has been seen at a few industry events with sister Farah Khan but nothing else is known about the future of his work.
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