CHENNAI: Reacting to a recent exposé by HuffPost India, filmmakers Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane — former partners at the recently dissolved Phantom Films, which they co-owned with Vikas Bahl and Madhu Mantena — have issued clarifications regarding their handling of the sexual harassment complaints made by a former employee against Bahl.
The HuffPost article, quoting the victim, detailed an incident that took place on October 5, 2015 at a luxury hotel in South Goa during the promotional rounds of Kashyap’s film, ‘Bombay Velvet’. The victim alleged Bahl molested her after a late-night party in her hotel room. She also accused Kashyap of not taking definitive action, and blamed him and his co-partners for ‘stonewalling’ her for over two years.
The ensuing uproar against Bahl’s alleged behaviour was further corroborated by actor Kangana Ranaut, who starred in Bahl’s film ‘Queen’. Kangana’s statement read: “Totally believe her, even though Vikas was married back in 2014 when we were filming Queen, he bragged about having casual sex with a new partner every other day…”
Subsequently, Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane issued separate statements claiming that immediate action against Bahl was indeed taken at Phantom Films but the process was impeded due to legal ‘ill-advice’ and the victim’s decision to not pursue the matter further.
“On the basis of legal advice being sought then, we were told that we were handicapped by two things— that we were dealing with an equal Promoter/director who actually ran the company, and that there was no provision to sack him on the grounds of misconduct,” Kashyap said.
“We immediately began to take action. We offered suspending Vikas from the company for a long period of time, not letting him produce or direct, taking away his signatory rights as well as sending him to rehabilitation. She (the victim) agreed. So did Vikas, who had no memory of the incident.
We also worked towards formalising this and even taking steps towards documenting these terms,” Motwane said. The directors also claimed that the HuffPost article did not include key admissions made by Kashyap and his girlfriend Shubhra Shetty. Meanwhile, Bahl is yet to issue a statement on the matter, and so is former Phantom co-partner Madhu Mantena.