The matter surfaced few hours after Anurag Kashyap announced the dissolution of Phantom Films. A woman came forward and recounted her tale of sexual harassment at the hands of filmmaker Vikas Bahl, who is one of the founders of Phantom Films. She said that Bahl had behaved inappropriately with her during a trip to Goa, reported PTI. In a recent article in HuffPost India, the woman has reiterated the allegations, sharing further details about the incident. She said that following the misbehaviour, she had reached out to Kashyap and detailed her experience in October 2015. However, no action was taken while Bahl continued to harass her until she finally quit the company, she said.
After the article went viral, Ranaut also raised her voice against Bahl. She said, "(I) Totally believe her, even though Vikas was married back in 2014 when we were filming Queen, he bragged about having casual sex with a new partner every other day. I don't judge people and their marriages but you can tell when addiction becomes sickness."
The actor said she was "shamed" for not being cool enough by the director, who, Kangana says, was scared of her. "But still every time we met, socially greeted and hugged each other, he'd bury his face in my neck, hold me really tight and breathe in the smell of my hair. It took me great amount of strength and effort to pull myself out of his embrace. He'd say 'I love how you smell K'. I could tell something is wrong with him".
Kangana said though she believed the woman who levelled allegations against Bahl, it was sad that people were attacking him now "even though the woman asked for help long ago." "That time the story was conveniently killed but I supported her at that time as well... I thought the movement would catch up but I was wrong," she said.
Kangana also claimed that after she supported the woman, Bahl stopped talking about the project that he had come to her. "I didn't mind losing out on a good script and I never called him either. I was determined to say what I felt was right but the matter was pushed under the carpet and I didn't hear any updates about the same. It's amusing after the news of Phantom dissolution, many are finding the courage to attack him," she said.
"Shame on such a society, go look at yourselves in the mirror bunch of cowards. Attacking powerless men won't begin a movement. Lets not be opportunists. Selective outrage will only serve as entertainment, this will just be tabloid gossip and nothing else," she added.
(With inputs from PTI)