'Maan Jao Naa' actor defends Anurag Kashyap after sexual harassment accusations

Earlier, this week, Telugu actor Payal Ghosh accused celebrated film-maker, Anurag Kashyap, of sexual harassment. Taking to social media, the actor shared that the Gangs of Wasseypur director 'forced himself on her'. She went on to name several Bollywood actors Kashyap had mentioned who had exchanged sexual favours for work. 

Soon after the allegations were made public, many came out to support the director and slam Ghosh's claims. The recent actor to come to Kashyap's defense is his Sacred Games actor, Elnaaz Norouzi, who also starred in Pakistani film Maan Jao Naa. 

In a lengthy Instagram post, Elnaaz wrote, “I remember I was ready to leave Sacred Games 2 because of a particular sex scene that I wasn’t comfortable with. After much back and forth with the production house and my team, Anurag Kashyap sir messaged me and said: ‘Listen don’t worry I’ll figure it out, just trust me.’ I had only shot one day with him for season 1 by then and I wasn’t familiar enough with him to know if I can trust him or no but I just agreed.”

On the day that the scene was to be shot, Elnaaz ‘had anxiety the entire time’ as she felt that she could not get out of filming it. However, she was pleasantly surprised to find that Anurag had modified the way the scene would be shot, keeping her reservations in mind.

“The day we had to shoot that scene came and I had anxiety the entire time... I knew, now that I am on set they’ll somehow make me do the scene and I won’t be able to say no because I was already told that the script won’t be changed. I had a feeling I’d have to do the scene even if I didn’t really want to. I was called on set and Anurag sir started briefing me as to how he will shoot it keeping in mind, what I had told him I’m not comfortable doing,” she wrote.

“I felt like crying because I didn’t expect him to actually keep my concern in mind. I didn’t expect him to actually shoot it in a way that I would be comfortable with. I didn’t expect him to make sure we shoot the scene with me keeping my clothes on even though it was written otherwise. I felt like crying because he proved me wrong and kept his word! And once we shot the scene, I did cry in my vanity and I sent him a long message thanking him for being the kind of MAN that he is,” she added.

The said that not just Bollywood, but the world needs more people like Anurag. “Thank you for allowing me to trust again and making me feel heard and safe on your set,” she concluded.

Earlier, Kashyap's ex-wife and actor Kalki Koechlin defended the director in a heartfelt statement. 

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