This happened in front of me in my hotel room in Mumbai when I was visiting many many years ago. A dear director-friend (who is still a close friend), the beautiful young star daughter (now married into a Nawabi khandaan) and the evergreen enfant terrible (ET) were with me.
ET was drinking all evening non-stop even when his girlfriend was admonishing him on the phone and asking him not to drink.
But ET was beyond listening. By the time we returned to my hotel room at around 1am he was dancing around and creating a scene in the lobby because his former girlfriend (now happily married into Bollywood’s first family) was in the hotel.
I suggested we disperse for the evening. But ET insisted on coming up to my room. So we all went up.
That’s when the real action started. ET began abusing another superstar with the same surname. I made the mistake of defending the other superstar. ET’s ego couldn’t take that. He decided to get nasty. He looked at me with a wicked loopy grin and said, “You want a scoop? A real scoop? I will give you one.”
Suddenly he turned to Star Daughter who was sitting next to him on the bed and, before any of us realized what was happening, he pounced on her and pinned her down on the bed.
Instead of protesting violently Star Daughter squealed and giggled going, “Stop it na” as though a child was tickling her.
We were all shocked beyond words. I decided enough is enough. “Please leave. I am very very tired,” I said to everyone in the room.
The next morning I asked the Star Daughter why she allowed that obnoxious behaviour. “You know how he is na,” she giggled.
Looking back I think this was an instance of unmistakable sexual harassment. Just because the drunken lout was a superstar he was allowed to get away with the behaviour.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the writer and not necessarily those of IWMBuzz. IWMBuzz does not guarantee the accuracy or reliability of the information provided herein
