Alok Nath, Bollywood's most Sanskaari actor, raped me,
says writer-producer Vinta Nanda
In a
heartbreaking Facebook post, Vinta Nanda has accused 'the most #Sanskaari'
person in the film and television industry’ of rape.
Mumbai: Vinta Nanda, a veteran
writer-producer of the avant-garde 1990s' show "Tara" fame, has
accused actor Alok Nath -- known for his "sanskaari" on-screen image
-- of sexually violating her almost two decades ago.
"I
have waited for this moment to come for 19 years," Nanda wrote in a
long, heart-wrenching Facebook
post, referring to the "predator in question" as "the actor par
excellence who is known as the most 'sanskaari' (cultured) person in the film
and television industry".
Her
suggestive remarks like "sanskaari" and that the person concernedwas
the "lead actor" and a "television star of that decade"
were good enough to make out that Nanda was indeed pointing the finger at Alok.
Later, confirming the same to
IANS via SMS, Nanda said: "It is Alok Nath. I thought saying 'sanskaari'
would do the needful."
Alok
is known for his roles as a stereotypical Indian father, personifying religious
traditions and moral values in films and TV shows.
It
is the escalating voices against sexual harassment across the world as part of
the #MeToo wave that gave Nanda the courage to pen down the exeriences which
had left her "shattered".
"I
started to walk home on the empty streets... Midway I was accosted by this man
who was driving his own car and he asked me to sit in it and said he would drop
me home. I trusted him and sat in his car.
"I have faint memory after that. I can remember more liquor
being poured into my mouth and I remember being violated endlessly. When I woke
up the next afternoon, I was in pain. I hadn't just been raped, I was taken to
my own house and had been brutalised.
"I
couldn't get up for my bed. I told some of my friends but everybody advised me
to forget about it and move on."
Later, she got a job to write and direct a series for Plus
Channel, and again her paths crossed with Alok.
"The man found his way through the casting route and became
one of the lead actors on the show. He created an environment in which I was
made to feel threatened, so I asked the producers to release me from directing
the series because I didn't want to be around where he was.
"I continued to write the show."
The "most difficult part" and the "main
reason" why Nanda took so long to come out with the truth was because
while she was working on this new series, she says, "he asked me to come
to his house again and I went to allow him to violate me".
"I needed the job and didn't want to leave it as I needed the
money. It was after this that I quit."
Nanda has urged people "who have suffered at the hands of
predators, to come out and say it aloud".
"Don't hold yourselves back. This is a moment for change, so
your silence will only hold barriers to its evolution. Speak out. Shout out from the top of the roof."
Later, she got a job to write and direct a series for Plus
Channel, and again her paths crossed with Alok.
"The man found his way through the casting route and became
one of the lead actors on the show. He created an environment in which I was
made to feel threatened, so I asked the producers to release me from directing
the series because I didn't want to be around where he was.
"I continued to write the show."
The "most difficult part" and the "main
reason" why Nanda took so long to come out with the truth was because
while she was working on this new series, she says, "he asked me to come
to his house again and I went to allow him to violate me".
"I needed the job and didn't want to leave it as I needed the
money. It was after this that I quit."
Nanda has urged people "who have suffered at the hands of
predators, to come out and say it aloud".
"Don't hold yourselves back. This is a moment for change, so
your silence will only hold barriers to its evolution. Speak out. Shout out from the top of the roof."
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