Nana Patekar reacts to Tanushree Dutta's sexual assault allegations, then does this

Mumbai: The debate over what is being seen as Bollywood's #MeToo moment snowballed Thursday as Tanushree Dutta reiterated her claim that Nana Patekar had harassed her on the sets of a film in 2008, and the veteran actor laughed off her allegation, asking what he could do about it.

A day after Dutta reopened the window on the 10-year-old incident and specifically named Patekar, there was a furious discussion on social media platforms and other media outlets, but the film industry itself was mostly silent.

Patekar dismissed Dutta's claim that he had misbehaved with her on the sets of ‘Horn 'Ok' Pleassss’ in 2008.

In a telephonic conversation with Mirror Now, the 67-year-old actor said he would see if he could take any legal step.

"What can I do about it? Tell me? How would I know?" he asked with a laugh.

"What does she mean by sexual harassment? There are 50-100 people on the sets with me. Will see what I can do legally," Patekar can be heard saying in Marathi in the audio available on the channel's official Twitter account.

Such behaviour, he added, could not have gone unnoticed in a film set with "50-100" people.

Rakesh Sarang, director of ‘Horn 'Ok' Pleassss’, backed Patekar.

"She misunderstood the enthusiasm of Mr Patekar. There were so many people on the sets. If somebody wanted to do it, why do it in front of everyone?" Sarang told PTI.

Meanwhile, after reacting to the controversy, work went on for Patekar as he headed to Jaisalmer to shoot for ‘Housefull 4’.

Farah Khan posted a picture on Instagram with the film’s actors, Kriti Sanon, Pooja Hegde, among others.