Since Tanushree Dutta’s #MeToo in Bollywood, now women in every field are bringing the issue of harassment with them. Many big names like Kailash Kher, Director Vikas Bahl, Model Julfi Syed, Sajid Khan, Alok Nath and few more are facing allegations of sexual harassment. Now the name of director Luv Ranjan has appeared in #MeToo.
An actress has anonymously mentioned the incident during the audition. The incident is of 2010 Luv Ranjan asked her to strip down for him. Talking to Mid-Day, at that time auditions were going on for ‘Pyaar Ka Panchanama’.
The dress code was a short skirt and a tight top. There were 7-8 girls there, but no one asked to speak or do any dialogue or acting. The actress mentioned the incident on that day- I was feeling very strange during the Bikini Test. In the audition room, Luv Ranjan was present with a cinematographer. A few girls before me had auditioned.
During my turn, they asked me for the intro. After this, Luv Ranjan told me that there would be Kissing seen and Bikini shot in the film, will you be comfortable? As I said yes they make me wear a bikini for the look test in the presence of a few people.
Luv asked me to strip down to my bra and panties. He said he wanted to see my body so he could check if I needed to lose weight. He said they were not recording anything and the cinematographer would also leave the room, so I needn’t worry. After that, it all gets blurry. My heart was pounding, and I rushed out saying I had to leave and wasn’t comfortable with it. I went home and tried to forget about it.
It didn’t stooped here :
The actress told me after a few days that I got a call that my selection has been done. I went there again, then the film’s mail actors were also present. Luv Ranjan took us to another room. He said that the director and actor should be friends.
After this Luv asked me if I’m a virgin, I stayed shocked After this, Luv Ranjan asked if I used condoms. Finally, he asked if I did masturbate. By then, I was scared and asked if I could leave. He said I shouldn’t misunderstand him, and called the three guys into the room and asked them, ‘Do you trust me enough as a director, that if I were to ask you to drop your pants, you would?’
Speaking about the accusation, Luv Ranjan was quoted in the same report as saying, “It’s absurd. It’s so absurd that I don’t know what to say except that I deny it. I don’t know how to react to an anonymous allegation beyond this and am willing to face any legitimate enquiry.
It’s a shame how this count is increasing every day. Women’s are speaking out. All started with Tanushree Dutta, AIB came, Utsav Chakraborty, Anurag Verma from HuffPost India, also Jeeveshu Ahluwalia. Rajat Kapoor, Alok Nath, Gaurang Doshi from Bollywood with Vairamuthu the Tamil lyricist as well. MJ Akbar is also accused by several women’s. It’s actually difficult to recall all the names as these are coming thick and fast.
