A shocking allegation made by the sister of late actress Jiah Khan, Karishma, against filmmaker Sajid Khan, who has been at the heart of the #MeToo controversy in India, has sparked an uproar on social media once again.
A video clip from the second part of the BBC's recent documentary "Death In Bollywood" shows Karishma opening up about how Sajid had allegedly sexually harassed Jiah, who worked with him on the movie "Housefull" in 2010.
“It was a rehearsal, she (Jiah) was reading the scripts and he (Sajid) asked her to take off her top and her bra. She didn’t know what to do, she said ‘the filming hasn’t even begun yet and this is happening’. She came home and cried”, Karishma said in the clip, which has since gone viral.
“She (Jiah) said, ‘I have a contract, and if I leave, he’ll sue me and slander my name and if I stay then I’ll be sexually harassed, it is a lose-lose situation’. So, she did do the film”.
Reminder that Sajid Khan is not in jail yet. pic.twitter.com/cZ5I8Rrys0
— Sidd (@siddanthdaily) January 18, 2021
The series also features a clip from a press conference for "Housefull", in which Jiah can be seen sharing the stage with Sajid and other star cast and jokingly saying: “Can I say bad things about you Sajid? He’s the worst director I’ve ever worked with, made my life completely hell”.
Karishma also shared her own ordeal when Sajid supposedly made sexual advances towards her, and Jiah stood up for her.
“I remember going to Sajid Khan’s house with my big sister and I remember being around the kitchen table, must’ve been like 16 at this stage. I was just wearing a strappy top and was leaned at the table and he was sort of staring and said ‘Oh she wants sex’. My sister Jiah immediately jumped to my defence and said ‘No what are you talking about’, and he said, ‘Look at the way she’s sitting’".
“My sister said, ‘No she’s innocent, she’s young, she doesn’t know what she wants’. And then we left shortly after that”, Karishma said.
While netizens have been slamming the filmmaker for roaming scot-free despite so many cases of sexual harassment against him, actress Kangana Ranaut has strongly reacted to the allegations, saying: “The world is not ideal. You are either the prey or the predator. No one will save you, you have to save yourself”.
She connected Jiah’s alleged suicide with late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s, who was found hanging from a ceiling fan on 14 June in his apartment in Mumbai city last year.
They killed Jiah they killed Sushant and they tried to kill me, but they roam free have full support of the mafia, growing stronger and successful every year. Know the world is not ideal you are either the prey or the predator. No one will save you you have to save yourself. https://t.co/7QwHAr9BBv
— Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) January 18, 2021
The three-part controversial series "Death In Bollywood" by the BBC was released recently in the UK and revolves around late Bollywood actress Jiah Khan's life and her sudden death. On 3 June 2013, Jiah was found hanging from a ceiling fan at her residence in Mumbai.
The second part of the series brought to light sexual harassment incidents by Sajid, who was earlier accused of sexual misconduct by actresses Sonali Chopra, Rachel White, and Dimple Paul.
