The #MeToo movement where women who have faced sexual harassment come out in public to discuss their experiences caught up a little late in India but when it did, it started affecting men in high positions in Bollywood. Some of the most recent allegations have surfaced against singer Kailash Kher and music director Anu Malik.

Kailash Kher’s many allegations

Kailash Kher was the first among the two to be hurled allegations at. Singer Sona Mohapatra came out against Kher, claiming that he behaved inappropriately with her. She shared her story on Twitter, where she detailed how Kher acted inappropriately and continued to pursue her even at her visible displease with his behavior. She tweeted, “I met Kailash for coffee in Prithvi Café to discuss a forthcoming concert where both our bands were playing & after the usual, a hand on my thigh with lines likes, your so beautiful, feel so good that a ‘musician got you’ (Ram) not an actor. I left not soon after. (1)”

She went on to write, (2) That did not deter Kailash Kher though. On landing in Dhaka & on my way to the venue with the organizers, keeps calling me & when I don’t pick up, calls the organizers phone to get through to me & asks me to ‘skip’ the soundcheck & join him in his room instead to ‘catch up’”

At least six women have spoken about Kher’s inappropriate behaviors with women around him. Photographer Natasha Hemrajani shared an incident from 2006, when she and a colleague went to interview Kher in his Mumbai home. She wrote, “During the interview, this creep sat between us as close to us as he could. He also kept putting his hands on our thighs (on the skin above our skirts).”

Singer Varsha Dhanoa has also shared similar stories about Kailash and how he called her late nights, tried to put his hands on her thighs and explicitly told her that he wanted to make love to her. The singer said that she was shattered as she considered Kher as her guru. Writer and journalist Sandhya Menon has shared a story from a Muscat-based journalist who didn’t want to be named. She said that Kher touched her thighs and kept behaving inappropriately even when she was upset with his advances.

Anu Malik’s unceremonious ouster from Indian Idol

Music director Anu Malik is a well-known face on Indian television, mostly because of his appearance as a judge in Indian reality show Indian Idol. He is a veteran music composer who is now being accused of sexual assault by several women. The gory details of the allegations are cringeworthy.

An unnamed woman talked to Mid-Day about her experiences. She said that she once met him at his house and “He sat next to me on the sofa. I realized I was trapped as his family was not at home. He then lifted my skirt and dropped his pants. I thought of pushing him and rushing out the door, but he was too strong for me. Luckily, the doorbell rang at that moment,” she said.

After this, Malik threatened the woman and asked her to keep quiet about this incident. He then dropped her home but instead of keeping to himself, he sexually assaulted her. She said, “It was around 8.30pm when he drove into a dark, empty maidan. Scared, I asked him where we were. But he simply unzipped his pants and asked me to lick him! I told him no and urged him to let me go, but he pulled me by my hair and stuffed my face in his lap, hurling abuses.” A guard came approaching the car and she escaped.

Another unnamed woman recalled her experience, saying that Malik passed comments on her and tried to force himself on her in a recording studio. Singer Shweta Pandit also leveled allegations against the music composer claiming that she was sexually assaulted by him when she was only 15 years old. Two other singers have also made similar allegations.

Singer Sona Mohapatra called Malik out on her Instagram and labeled him a ‘serial predator’ alongside Kher. Though Malik’s lawyers refuted the allegations, he had to step down from his role at Indian Idol.

Several other respected members of the Indian film industry have been engulfed in the movement, including Sajid Khan, Alok Nath, Subhash Ghai and several others. The movement is finally catching on in India but there seems to be a culture of harassment and predatory behavior that in the industry that doesn’t leave space for newcomers as well as established actors and singers.

Now, some people are claiming that some of the biggest culprits of the industry are not named yet. Some time ago, Amitabh Bachchan was asked to comment on Tanushree Dutta’s allegations of assault on actor Nana Patekar. Bachchan in response said that his name is neither Tanushree nor Nana. The reply left many people petrified who expected the godfather of the industry to speak up and take a stand on such a sensitive matter.

Celebrity hairdresser Sapna Bhavnani wrote in a tweet, “This has to be the biggest lie ever. Sir the film Pink has released and gone and your image of being an activist will soon too. Your truth will come out very soon. Hope you are biting your hands cuz nails will not be enough.”

Some people claim that the tallest names in Bollywood including that of Bachchan’s are not completely fair and some people have heard stories about the megastar and his involvement in such cases.

As the #MeToo movement is growing in India, it is slowly shaking the foundation of our society and culture. Not just Bollywood, but women all over the country are now speaking up about the shame and shock they have gone through at the hands of men in power as well as those who consistently abuse their privileges under the pretense of patriarchy and then go on victim bashing.