Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned seems to be the case with Payal Rohtagi. She has accused filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee of molesting her and asking for sexual favours. According to her, she had become good friends with Dibakar and used to discuss her personal problems with him. She claims that Dibakar also discussed his failing marriage and of seeing a psychiatrist from Bombay Hospital to curb his licentious ways. Payal admittedly became his agony aunt.
The flashpoint in their friendship came after Payal auditioned for a role for Dibakar’s upcoming film, ‘Shanghai’. According to her, after an exhausting audition, Dibakar called on her at her house and said something that hurt her sensibilities. He told her that she had put on weight and asked her to lift up her top to show her tummy. She told him to get out. She alleges that after this episode her role, for which she had auditioned, was given to another girl.
Dibakar maintains that nothing of the sort happened. The discussion about her weight did take place, but in the studio with other people present. He never told her to lift up her top. For this, he is willing to swear in court. To add insult to Payal’s injury, Anurag Kashyap also jumped to Dibakar’s defence, making Payal see red. She immediately accused Anurag of practising casting couch in real life and even dragged the name of actor Kalki Koechlin, who she alleges got her break after sleeping with Anurag.
Well, muck raking of the sexual kind is part of the Bollywood lore and it rears its ugly head time and again. Remember Madur Bhandarkar and Preeti Jain?
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