Tanushree Dutta has reignited a decade old controversy by blaming film actor Nana Patekar for sexual harassment. She also dragged filmmaker and writer Vivek Agnihotri in another controversy by stating that the director had asked her to take off her clothes in front of the cast and crew of the movie Chocolate. Tanushree Dutta has received legal notices from both Nana Patekar and Vivek Agnihotri for her allegations. The mainstream media and the leftist cabal have tried to over dramatize this matter. Nana Patekar was especially targeted by a brigade of Bollywood actors and actresses which include names such as Sonam Kapoor, Farhan Akhtar and others who seem to be convinced of Nana Patekar’s misconduct even when a single shred of evidence or proof is yet to be presented against him. The charges leveled against Nana Patekar by Tanushree Dutta are severe and ghastly as are the charges levied against Vivek Agnihotri by the actress. Vivek Agnihotri denied all allegations of “misbehavior and/or harassment” and now there are people who have come up to support Vivek of their own free will. Sattyajit Gazmer was an Associate Director (AD) for the movie Chocolate, he was not only present on the sets of the movie but also acted as the intermediary between Vivek and Tanushree, as he himself claims.
https://www.facebook.com/sgazmer/posts/10217344065097861
Sattyajit used his personal Facebook account to narrate the incidents as and when they took place on the sets of the movie. It would be interesting to note that it was upon Sattyajit’s insistence that Tanushree Dutta was offered the role in Chocolate. Vivek Agnihotri, the director wanted to cast another big star in the role which was eventually taken up by Tanushree. Sattyajit described that as a newcomer in the industry; Tanushree was not proficient in the work and was unaware of the technicalities of acting. Vivek Agnihotri’s wife Pallavi Joshi who herself is a well known actress took Tanushree Dutta under her wing, coaching her in acting and technical aspects of film making at her own house for over a month. According to Sattyajit, Tanushree was weak in acting and had faced countless difficulties in her takes, her fumbles with dialogues and timing had irked off the five big names who were working in the film. Anil Kapoor, Suneil Shetty, Emraan Hashmi, Irfan Khan and Arshad Warsi were all part of the cast and they all faced difficulties in their takes with Tanushree Dutta. Sattyajit was assigned as the in charge of Tanushree Dutta and he acted as the intermediary between Vivek Agnihotri and the actress.
Sattyajit Gazmer himself pointed out that Vivek is known for using the associate or the 1st AD to pass on directions to the actors or actresses. In this case specifically it was the AD, Sattyajit himself, who had approached Tanushree Dutta for a song sequence. Tanushree was already in wet clothes and had been provided a bathrobe to cover her up and to keep her warm between takes. It was this bathrobe that the AD had asked Tanushree to take off for the shoot, Vivek Agnihotri had not even approached Tanushree Dutta directly. It was simply the AD approaching Tanushree to get ready for the take with Irfan Khan. Tanushree was neither asked to undress nor was she asked to strip any more clothes than what the scene demanded. The actress was dressed up in appropriate clothes in which she had been dressed up since the start of the day. The then AD Sattyajit has clarified this in his long Facebook post which describes the various events of the movie and this incident in particular. Sattyajit’s comments were backed by another actress who was a part of the movie, namely Sushma Reddy. Sushma Reddy corroborated the statements made by Sattyajit Gazmer thereby extending support to Vivek Agnihotri. She went on to add in her comments that Tanushree Dutta’s accusations against Vivek were “unnecessary slander” aimed at discrediting the well known director.
This Facebook post by Sattyajit has been a timely one, as it has made it possible for the director to prove his innocence. While sexual harassment in itself is a terrible crime, a false case where a woman wrongly uses her gender to accuse someone of such vile acts becomes even more terrible. Accusations such as these can discredit a man and make him lose his image in the society, Sattyajit Gazmer has been brave enough to come out in the open and narrate the happenings of the movie set. Had it not been for the AD, the mainstream media would have continued hounding Vivek Agnihotri for the allegations levied on him by the actress. Sushma Reddy too has pulled off a courageous act by extending her support to the wrongly accused, her back up statements are further proof that there was no harassment on female actresses done on the movie sets of Chocolate, which is contrary to what Tanushree Dutta has claimed.
