The 3-part BBC documentary Death In Bollywood about the mysterious death of actress Jiah Khan, has opened up a Pandora’s box . It lays open various sordid facts and loose strings in the case. Many are shocked by Jiah’s sister Karishma’s statements during the documentary of how her sister was sexually harassed by filmmaker Sajid Khan.
Jiah was barely 16 when this ugly incident happened. The allegations of sexual misconduct against Sajid Khan have piled up since then.
Barely a few days after Jiah Khan’s sister spoke out against Sajid, Sherlyn Chopra has lashed out at Sajid with appalling details of his inappropriate behavior. Given his sordid track record Sajid would find it impossible to resume work in the Hindi film industry with even his sister Farah Khan(who was earlier trying to get him involved with her films) firmly turning her back on what appears to be a repeated offender.
Ashoke Pandit, chief advisor of the Federation Of Western India Cine Employees(FWICE) says though Sajid is still to be proven guilty he is facing a situation of ostracism . “We summoned him to give his explanation to us . He didn’t turn up. We summoned him again. This time he came and denied all the charges. Technically Sajid is still not-guilty.We as a film federation have to go by the law. However there is a wider moral issue.And that could prevent Sajid or for that matter Nana Patekar from being employed .If thousands of workers of the various film unions in Bollywood agree to not work with MeToo accused there is nothing that the accused can do about it.”
However it seems no one in Bollywood is willing to work with Sajid Khan.
Says Pandit. “This ostracism is bound to happen. And no law can prevent it from happening. And why just the alleged perpetrators ?Even those close to the perpetrators must be ostracized.”
