Mumbai: Former Miss India and actor Niharika Singh opened up about her #MeToo experiences in entertainment industry calling out Bollywood biggies Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sajid Khan and Bhushan Kumar.
The Miss Lovely actor’s account was shared on Twitter by journalist Sandhya Mennon.
Niharika said she decided to write the piece “to expand my own understanding of what constitutes abuse, who we choose to punish and whom we are willing to forgive”.
The actor said she has dealt with various forms of exploitation throughout her life and her main struggle started once she decided to move to Mumbai to make her name in the modelling and movie business.
Soon after her Miss India pageant win, Niharika said she was signed by Raj Kanwar for her Bollywood debut but the project got shelved and T-Series honcho Bhushan Kumar decided to launch her.
“Bhushan Kumar asked Kanwar to release me from his contract as a favour so I could be cast in his other film… Bhushan Kumar called me to his office to sign A New Love Ishtory where he gave me an envelope as a signing amount for the film. It contained two 500 Rupee notes.
“I got a text from him later that night- ‘I would love to know you more. Let’s get together sometime’. I wrote back saying- ‘Absolutely! Let’s go on a double date. You bring your wife. I’ll bring my boyfriend.’ He never wrote to me again,” she wrote.
The film got delayed and the actor claimed she never got paid for her work on the project.
In 2009, Niharika signed Miss Lovely opposite Nawazuddin Siddiqui. The actor wrote she and Nawazuddin came close during the making of the film and she developed a soft corner for him as she “found him real, after all the superficial ‘filmy’ interactions I’d had in the past years”.
The actor revealed one morning she invited the Manto actor to her home for breakfast and he grabbed her.
“I tried to push him away but he wouldn’t let go. After a little coercion, I finally gave in. I wasn’t sure what to make of this relationship. He told me it was his dream to have a Miss India or an actress wife, just like Paresh Rawal and Manoj Bajpayee. I found his little confession funny but endearing…He often complained about how he was judged on his looks, skin colour and that he wasn’t fluent in English. I tried to help him deal with his insecurities, but he was stuck in a state of victimisation.”
The two started dating but according to Niharika, she decided to split with Nawazuddin because of his frequent lies.
Niharika also claimed that she was briefly engaged to Mayank Singh Singhvi in 2011, but parted ways because he “was a sociopath”.
Mayank later got married to Anissia Batra, who worked with a German airline. She had allegedly jumped from the terrace of her house in July and Mayank was arrested on the charge of dowry death.
In September it was revealed that a former Miss India had approached Delhi Police and recorded her statement in the Anissia Batra case. In her statement, she had told police that she called off her engagement after he threatened her and chased her with a knife.
Niharika concluded her post by sharing her encounter with Sajid, who was recently dropped as the director of Housefull 4 following sexual harassment allegations by multiple women.
“Filmmaker Sajid Khan, who I met a couple of times while he was dating an actress I knew years ago, made a few predictions when a close friend of ours was opening her second restaurant – ‘This place will shut down within a year, mark my words.’ To his actress girlfriend he said, ‘She won’t survive a day without me in Bollywood’. ‘And, this one’, looking at me straight, ‘will soon commit suicide’.
“My restaurateur friend is opening her fourth restaurant. It is difficult to get a table at the other three. The actress’ career skyrocketed after she dumped the filmmaker and I, have managed to stay alive,” she wrote.
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