Honestly, the lengths that men go to justify their sexual misconducts astonishes me at times. The level of creativity they showcase when coming up with every plausible excuse for why a woman would accuse them of sexual harassment is one that you rarely see from them for more productive causes.
While Utsav Chakraborty blamed his behaviour on a “painkiller haze”, in the Tanushree Dutta-Nana Patekar incident, the producer of the movie ‘Horn Ok Please’, Samee Siddiqui decided to go with the classic and supremely chauvinistic route.
A sting operation by Times Now has released a clip of Siddiqui where he blatantly dismisses Tanushree’s claims against Patekar giving the vilest justification instead.
Unaware that he was being taped on camera when asked what he thought happened on the sets of ‘Horn Ok Please’ on the day that Patekar allegedly misbehaved to Tanushree, the producer says:
“Should I tell you the truth? I feel that day she was on her periods. Okay? So you get irritated. Small touch or maybe something else.”
Slow claps for Mr Siddiqui, ladies and gentlemen. Throw in a standing ovation too, while you’re at it, for the most over-used logic in the male chauvinist playbook.
He goes on to say that he doesn’t know what exactly may have happened since he wasn’t on set. He adds:
“Something must’ve happened. She then came to the van and didn’t come out only. Jamshed Singh was her secretary back then, I called him. I asked him that day: “What drama is she doing? 3 days of my shoot is done, I will run into losses. So you tell her.”
Then Jamshed and I reached near the van. Jamshed spoke to her father and everyone else. He spoke to her also and said that he (Patekar) is a senior actor, go and finish the song. Only 2 days of shoot is left, why are you doing this? She said no.”
I’m at a loss of words for the extremely off-handish approach the very people who were responsible for Tanushree’s safety in her workplace showed that day and still seem to endorse.
The reporter then questioned Siddiqui about Tanushree’s claims that some changes were made in the song to include Patekar in the song sequence.
The producer had a perfectly prepared justification for that as well. He says:
“See, the song was made earlier only. First you make the song and then dance is choreographed. The song includes a male voice. How did she think it will only be her?! ‘AYa re, ayA re’ is there in the song.”
He also reveals that in an attempt to get Tanushree back on set and complete the shoot, they asked her to “forget everything”.
He says:
“We made her understand and asked her to forget all this. ‘Something must’ve happened by mistake, so you forget it.’
She said no and said ask him (Patekar) to dance on one side and she will dance on another. I told her it’s an item song, how will 2 actors dance in different directions? Now, I am a creative person. You will have to do what the choreographer and director says. She said ‘I won’t do it’.”
This revelation by Siddiqui is proof that not only did the makers of the film know about the alleged sexual misconduct by Patekar, but they moreover chose to ask Tanushree to “let it go” and forget the incident. And the very fact that he has the audacity to blame the entire thing on “periods” is a sign of their derogatory attitude towards the whole thing.
We’ll have to wait and see how this plays out in court, now that Patekar and Vivek Agnihotri have sent legal notices to Tanushree for her allegations against them.