Chahat threatens legal action after Mathira alleges harassment

In a turn of events unlikely to surprise anyone following the recent heated back and forth between television host Mathira Khan and her guest and musician Chahat Fateh Ali Khan, the latter has escalated matters by threatening to take legal action against the former.

In a smaller but still eerie echo of the legal war unfolding between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni in Hollywood, Chahat's litigious response is his answer to Mathira's allegations that he harassed her during an appearance on The 21mm show – a talk show hosted by Mathira where she regularly invites celebrities and engages in gentle roasting.

For the unversed, Chahat recently shared photos of behind-the-scenes moments of his time on the show, many of which appear to show him reaching out for Mathira's hand and initiating physical contact. One particular clip shows Chahat inching towards Mathira across the set as she edges away.

Taking to her YouTube channel, Mathira opened up about her discomfort with the singer's frank conduct. She also accused him of using his own team to film the interaction in secret.

"Me being a woman, yes, I was very uncomfortable," admitted Mathira. "I am not used to hugging people and I was very uncomfortable. If he saw that, why did he post it without my permission?"

To back up her argument, Mathira reposted the videos and photos captured by Chahat's team, which she maintains were shot without her consent. "People do many things for fame, and I am very disappointed at the same time," she stressed.

Acknowledging her own unorthodox demeanour within the entertainment industry, Mathira added, "I am a bold person, yes, but that does not mean that you can hug me or put your hand on my back without my permission. Anyway, he did it. The video he recorded and posted came from his own cameras. Those were not our cameras. It was without our consent. We have got nothing to do with it."

Expressing her unhappiness with the encounter, Mathira added in her lengthy statement, "I don't know why he did this. I have asked him to remove the video from his page, and he has not done anything about it. I am very disheartened. It's sad that we have to face this."

In response, Chahat has put up his own video on his Instagram page and refuted all of Mathira's claims. He insists he was a gracious guest who did not harass his host. He also strenuously denies taking his own cameras onto her set.

"The truth is that Mathira had been begging me to come to her show for four or five months because it wasn't a success," he began in his video. "The show went well, and it was very interesting. However, if you watch the video, you will see that she is the one who was putting her hand on my back, not the other way round."

According to Chahat, the clip he posted shows him reenacting one of his own songs at Mathira's request. "I was just acting out a line from my song. You can see from my video that she enjoyed it and that she was laughing. And now she is saying I have harassed her! This is a very big claim."

Switching from talking to his followers to addressing Mathira directly, Chahat added, "I am meeting with a solicitor now, and I am taking you to court. I did not harass you."

The musician also insisted that he always attends chat shows alone whenever he is invited as a guest, refuting Mathira's claims that he must have filmed her in secret. "The biggest lie is that she said I took a team with me," he said. "I always go alone to any show. It is not true that anyone from my team shot that video. It must have been her own team. This is a very big allegation."