After the famous television show Tara’s writer-producer accused actor Alok Nath of rape and sexual harassment, many celebrities have come out. Even the show’s lead actress Navneet Nishan and actress Sandhya Mridul also came out with their #MeToo stories and accused the sanskari babuji of sexual misconduct. While half of the world has already gone against him, his onscreen daughter Renuka Shahane also opened up about the issue and revealed that the actor becomes a different person when he is drunk. Renuka Shahane also thanks her stars saying, “My God! I am so glad I wasn’t on any outdoor with him ever.”
In an interview to FirstPosts, Renuka said, “My experience working with Alok Nath has been very good but I have heard that he has two faces. People say that he can’t really handle his drinks. When he is drunk, he becomes a totally different person. His Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde personality is known to his colleagues. I heard many such incidents after I had finished working with him in Hum Aapke Hain Koun and tele-serial Imtihaan, in which he played my father.”
“In Imtihaan, our father-daughter bond was so strong and it was so wonderful working with him, but then I started hearing stories that he harasses women when he is drunk. It was so shocking for me because I couldn’t put these two faces together. Deepika Deshpande (film and television actress) had mentioned about this to me when we were doing 9 Malabar Hill together sometime in the late '90s. Couple of other young actresses, 17 or 18 year olds, had mentioned that ki party mein badi badtamazee karte hain (he misbehaves with them in parties) and one has to keep away from him. That he misbehaves does not come as a surprise to me now but the extent to which he went (referring to Nanda’s case) is really shocking. What Vinta has gone through is heart-rending. There are many others who must have been harassed but they are not coming out in the open,” says Shahane.
“But yes, there are some people who are crass even on the sets and they may be great actors. Let’s put it very clearly. Just because you have played a saint, have been principled on screen, doesn’t mean you are principled in real life. You are just acting the part. We are taken in by that image. But I want the men also to speak up. Even the best intentioned men… Why can’t they come out and say, Yes, this happened’. The least one can do is listen to the other side," she adds.
Just like Shahane, for Bhagyashree, who played the role of Alok Nath’s screen daughter in Maine Pyar Kiya, it is all quite shocking. “I had no bad experience nor did I get those vibes from him. The atmosphere on the sets was so brilliant. It has also got to do with Sooraj ji (Barjatya) as the director. When you are placed in an atmosphere like this, it cannot allow you to think that way because everyone is on track,” says Bhagyashree.
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