The chilling account of a victim published in Huffington Post exposes director Vikas Bahl as a sex pest. This revelation actually erupted two years ago but was hushed up by Bahl’s partners. A producer who was closely associated with one of the partners at Phantom Films says, “Vikas Bahl is a known sex addict. I’ve seen him in action with women at parties after a few drinks despicable. The stories about Vikas were heard at Phantom for years. Everyone, including Anurag Kashyap who now wants to champion the cause of aggrieved women at Phantom, turned a blind eye to Vikas’s dirty doings.”
Kangana Ranaut too has gone on record now about Vikas’ inappropriate behaviour.
Since Vikas’s perverse peccadilloes are out in the open, what happens to Super 30, the film on the life of Bihar’s iconic mathematician Anand Kumar that Vikas Bahl is directing for Phantom?
While Hrithik Roshan chose to remain silent on the issue when questioned ironically he was the one who cried hoarse saying he was “being harassed” during the Kangana episode Anand Kumar said he was unaware of Bahl’s background. “I don’t watch that many films. But I had seen Vikas’ Queen and liked it. I readily agreed to the film on my life being directed by him. Beyond this, I know nothing.”
While it’s easy to accept Anand’s rationale, as he is far removed from the Mumbai film industry, Hrithik Roshan cannot absolve himself of the murky charge of working with a sexual predator. Will he continue working in Super 30 oblivious of the grave charges being faced by the director? In Hollywood the high-profile alleged sexual offenders Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and Woody Allen have all been blacklisted by all the major stars. Is Hrithik going to blissfully continue working with an acknowledged sexual offender?
Director Kabir Khan and Ranveer Singh who are doing a sports film 1983 for Phantom, would also have to do some serious rethinking.
Filmmaker Hansal Mehta who condemned Bahl in the strongest words on twitter had to shut down his twitter account. “After I spoke out against Vikas Bahl, Hrithik and Kangana’s fans started trolling me,” said Hansal Mehta. In his tweet, he wrote, “Will anybody do anything about this bloody creep or will the industry protect him like it always does?
“Wish I could do more than just speak out. As a father of two girls I fear them having to deal with such predators just because nobody took any action against Bahl and his ilk on the contrary a major star has acted in his new film. Who is empowered here? The victim or the creep?”
