The #MeToo movement erupted in 2018 and its effects were spread across India. Several powerful men from different fields were called out for inappropriate sexual misconduct and harassment. Many women shared their horrifying stories on social media. Popular celebrities like Nana Patekar, Sajid Khan, Rajat Kapoor and Subhash Ghai were accused of sexual misconduct.
Earlier in August, rumours started doing the rounds that Sushant Singh Rajput was making his Kizzie Aur Manny co-star Sanjana Sanghi uncomfortable. The issue emerged again in October, during the #MeToo movement. Sushant was accused of sexual harassment. To prove his innocence, Sushant shared screenshots of conversations with Sanjana. Before temporarily deactivating his Twitter account, he had written,
“The last thing worth doing is to defend yourself of the fiction created by an agenda. People using this much required campaign for their personal agenda is too much to ignore. So here is the text conversation with Sanjana till the time I shot for the film. I let you decide.”
He shared screenshots of his conversation with Sanjana on Instagram as well. “I feel sad to reveal personal information but it seems that there is no other way to state what actually happened, in the midst of this curated, well timed and agenda driver smear campaign. From the first day of the shoot till the last day, this is what happened on the sets with Sanjana. Misconduct ? Not at al. Agenda ? You decide,” he wrote.
Sanjana later confirmed that there was no truth to the accusatory reports.
Speaking about this to a portal, Sushant said, “It was paradoxical because it [the #MeToo movement] was something that I stand for. I happened to be one of the intentional and strategic casualties. Many paid campaigners were used to give it a burst. I felt bad and misunderstood. The more it gets written about, the more it damages my reputation, which I have worked hard to build. The movement is a good thing. It is all about changing mindsets.
The director of the film Mukesh Chhabra, who himself was accused of inappropriate behaviour, said that no such incident took place between Sushant and Sanjana.
