Veteran actor Asrani calls 'MeToo movement' rubbish, says don't take it 'seriously'

All of this kickstarted after actress Tanushree Dutta claimed that Nana Patekar harassed her in 2008 on the sets of her film 'Horn OK Pleassss'.

Pic Courtesy: Movie Still

New Delhi: In the wake of the ongoing MeToo movement in Bollywood, several celebrities have come out and revealed their own ordeal with sexual harassment in the Hindi film industry. However, there are some who don't believe in the movement and have called it a lie.

Veteran actor Asrani, known for some of the iconic roles has called the 'MeToo movement' a rubbish. He told ANI, “I support women, everyone should, but all this is mostly for publicity, part of film promotions and nothing else. All this is rubbish, and 90 per cent lie, just to sell it to magazines and for popularity."He termed the accusations against various actors as 'filmy things'."Accusations and blames are all filmy things. Mere accusations mean nothing, don`t take this seriously. If you publish Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography, no one will read it but if it`s Madhuri Dixit`s or Madhubala's autobiography people will come and read it.”

All of this kickstarted after actress Tanushree Dutta claimed in one of her recent interviews that Nana Patekar harassed her sexually in 2008 on the sets of her film 'Horn OK Pleassss' and also demanded to do an intimate dance step with her. She also named choreographer Ganesh Acharya, director Rakesh Sarang and producer Sami Siddiqui as accomplices in the harassment she faced.

After her shocking allegations, several Bollywood celebrities such as Anushka Sharma, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, Farhan Akhtar, Sapna Pabbi, Kangana Ranaut have supported the actress. However, others have chosen either not to comment on it or back Nana Patekar. The senior actor has outrightly denied the allegations.