The MeToo movement which took flight in India in mid-2018 had women boldly levelling sexual assault allegations against some big names in the entertainment industry including Nana Patekar, Chetan Bhagat, Rajat Kapoor and others. This past weekend another highly respected name was pulled up that has sent shock waves in Bollywood.

The unnamed victim who assisted celebrated director Rajkumar Hirani when filming 'Sanju' has stated that over a period of six months between March to September 2018 he had sexually assaulted her in his home office. According to her it all started by him making a suggestive comment to her on April 9th 2018 which stunned her and she had stated " I remember forming these words on my lips - 'Sir. This is wrong...Because of this power structure. You being the absolute power and me being a mere assistant, a nobody - I will never be able to express myself to you,'.

The victim in an interview to Huffington Post has revealed "“I had no choice but to be polite to him, It was unbearable but the reason I endured it all, until I couldn’t, was because I didn’t want my job to be taken away from me, and work to be questioned. Ever. I was worried that if I left midway, it would be impossible to find another job in this industry if he were to speak badly about my work, because if Hirani said I wasn’t good, everybody would listen. My future would be in jeopardy.” It is said that her father was suffering from a terminal disease and she needed the money from her work very badly to sustain his treatment.
Rajkumar Hirani has denied the accusations and has released a statement that reads "I was completely shocked when these allegations were brought to my notice about two months back. I had suggested immediately that it is essential to take this matter to any committee or any legal body. The complainant has chosen to go to the media instead. I want to very strongly state that this is a false malicious and mischievous story being spread with the sole intention of destroying my reputation.

Rajkumar Hirani has made such meaningful films as 'Mission Kashmir', 'Munnabhai MBBS', 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' '3 Idiots', 'PK' and 'Sanju' which have received high critical and commercial success making him one of the most popular Indian directors among the current generation around the globe.