Bhubaneswar: As Sajid Khan, who was accused by several women during the #MeToo movement in 2018, left everyone surprised after he appeared as a contestant at the grand premiere of Bigg Boss 16 on Saturday, Odisha-born singer Sona Mohapatra questioned Farhan Akhtar, who heads the organisation Mard, over his silence.
Sona wrote: “This is #SajidKhan , now on a reality TV show. Then there is #AnuMalik judging a music reality show on TV,for children no less. #KailashKher ? Celebrity Judge on TV. ALL called out by many many women in @IndiaMeToo. Indian TV channels, executives are indeed depraved & sad lot.”
She requested Farhan Akhtar to speak up in another tweet, “Dear @FarOutAkhtar, you front an organisation called MARD. This man & the many others are known to you personally. Speak up, Stand Up only when it’s convenient or pays to virtue signal for ‘our cause’ not now? Charity begins at home.”
Dear @FarOutAkhtar , you front an organisation called MARD. This man 👇🏾& the many others are known to you personally. Speak up, Stand Up only when it’s convenient or pays to virtue signal for ‘our cause’ not now? Charity begins at home. 🤟🏾💔 https://t.co/h4IDyHqnBx
— Sona Mohapatra (@sonamohapatra) October 3, 2022
Stating that creative and marketing teams would be ‘chuckling ghoulishly’ for the free publicity, she added: “Sleep well in the night dancing on the graves of your conscience.”
Having been accused by some actresses, including Saloni Chopra, Rachel White and Mandana Karimi, as well as, journalist Karishma Upadhyay, Sajid was suspended by the Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association for a year and subsequently dropped from his directorial project Housefull 4. He has since stayed away from the limelight.
Opening up about his career downfall on the reality show. Sajid Khan said that he became “arrogant” since his films with “biggest actors of the industry like Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, John Abraham, Mithun da (Chakraborty), Chintu ji (Rishi Kapoor, Daboo ji (Randhir Kapoor), Ritesh Deshmukh and Saif Ali Khan,” were doing well.
“After giving back-to-back three hits, I became very arrogant. I thought I had become infallible and can never make a wrong film. I started giving out arrogant statements,” he said.
However, his 2013 film Himmatwala and 2014 comedy-romance Humshakals bombed at the box office. “I started writing Housefull 4 and halfway through the direction, I was dropped from the franchise. My credit for the film was taken away from me. I just felt this is all God’s way of telling me that I have to become a nicer person,” he added.
