Ex-assistant Recounts Incident When Anurag Kashyap Refused Sexual Favours from Actress Asking for Work

Many of Anurag Kashyap’s friends and colleagues from the industry have spoken up in his support after the filmmaker was accused of sexual harassment by actress Payal Ghosh. Among them is Anurag’s former assistant Jaydeep Sarkar, who took to social media recalling an incident from years ago when a female actor suggested sexual favours in exchange for work.

Recounting the time when he was working with Anurag on Gulaal, Jaydeep said in his series of tweets on Monday that the director refused the offer and was disappointed at what some women have to do to get work in the film industry.

“This is the right time to recount this story. I was an assistant with @anuragkashyap72 in 2004. I was looking into secondary casting for ‘Gulaal’ and was meeting many actors. A young actress, who really wanted a part in the film insisted she wanted to meet Anurag. She waited a while and then Anurag got done with a narration and agreed to meet her. The young actress probably assumed the only way to get the role was through the ‘casting couch’. She tried suggesting a few ‘favours’ verbally,” Jaydeep narrated.

“But when Anurag politely ignored it, she gently let her sari pallu drop. A few times. At this point, Anurag got up and requested her to not do this. He told her she would get the part if she was the right fit and nothing else would work. Saying this, he walked out of the room, disappointed. I was shocked by what I saw, but I had seen a hero get out of a situation, with respect and empathy for her. Later he told me he was disappointed that so many young women feel this is the only way they can make it,” he added.

Here’s the twitter thread:

Payal Ghosh, who has worked in projects like Patel Ki Punjabi Shaadi and Saath Nibhaana Saathiya claimed on Saturday that filmmaker Anurag Kashyap forced himself on her. She has subsequently said that even she does not have any proof of the incident. The National Commission for Women has said that they are yet to receive a formal complaint from her.