MUMBAI: Actress Sherlyn Chopra has accused director Sajid Khan, brother of filmmaker Farah Khan, of sexual harassment and misconduct. The incident, she said, occurred a few days after her father’s death.
It’s not the first time that Sajid Khan has been in controversy for such reasons. Several women have made similar complaints against him, resulting in a one-year suspension from the Indian Film & Television Directors’ Association. Sajid was also removed from the helm of Housefull 4, which was in production when allegations against him first emerged, amid the Indian #MeToo movement in 2018.
In a tweet, Sherlyn recalled an incident from 2005, when she said that Sajid exposed himself to her. “When I had met him in April 2005, a few days after my father’s demise, he had taken his penis out of his pants and had asked me to feel it. I remember having told him that I know how a penis feels like & that the purpose of my meeting with him was not to feel or rate his penis,” she wrote, responding to a similar allegation made by the late Jiah Khan’s sister.
Responding to a Twitter user’s query on why she chose to disclose this so late, Sherlyn said, “He has the ‘superstars’ of Bollywood to vouch for his ‘character’. It’s my word against theirs. The Bollywood mafia is a strong syndicate.”
Earlier this week, the late Jiah Khan’s sister levelled allegations of sexual harassment against Sajid, claiming that he asked Jiah to strip to her bra during a script-reading session.
Journalist Karishma Upadhyay had accused Sajid Khan of taking out his penis in front of her during an interview in 2018, and another actress Rachel White too was an alleged victim of his sexual harassment.