Choreographer Ganesh Acharya, in his response to actress Tanushree Dutta’s allegations against Nana Patekar, called the actor ‘a sweet person’ and someone ‘who could never do that.’ Dutta, in a recent interview, had alleged that Patekar had misbehaved with her while shooting a song sequence for the 2009 movie Horn Ok Pleassss.
Acharya, who was the choreographer for the song, said in a Firstpost report that contrary to Dutta’s claim, the song was never intended to be a solo number and was always planned to feature Patekar in it. While admitting that he couldn’t recall every detail of the incident as it transpired a while back, he denied Dutta’s claim of members of a political party vandalizing the shooting set and her vehicle at Patekar’s behest.
“Something did happen that day because the shooting was also stalled for over three hours. There was some sort of misunderstanding. But I can confirm that nothing this sort of happened. It’s a wrong statement that Nana ji called members of some political party on set. It never happened,” the choreographer said.
The actress had also accused Acharya and the director of the movie, Rakesh Sarang, of not taking action against Patekar even after she complained to them about his alleged misbehaviour. She was later replaced by Rakhi Sawant for the song after she chose to opt out of the song.
Meanwhile, journalist Janice Sequeira voiced her support to the actress through a tweet. She testified that she was present at the location during the time of the incident.
Some incidents that take place even a decade ago remain fresh in your memory. What happened with #TanushreeDutta on the sets of “Horn Ok Please” is one such incident – I was there. #NanaPatekar
[THREAD]
— Janice Sequeira (@janiceseq85) September 26, 2018
During the interview, Dutta also said that big stars like Akshay Kumar and Rajanikanth should stop working with Patekar for the work environment to improve.
Meanwhile, reacting to Acharya’s statement, Dutta called him “a bloody liar and a two-faced person. He’s going to say all that. And 10 years ago, he was one of those people who were equally complicit in the harassment. He won’t admit it.”
Image Courtesy: Film Companion
