In the wake of recent #MeToo controversy, Bollywood and
Television’s Sanskaari actor, Alok Nath has been accused of rape by a TV show
writer and producer. Vinta Nanda, a veteran writer of 90s’ TV show, Tara took
to her Facebook and narrated the incident about Alok Nath who was one of the
lead in the show.
In her Facebook post, Vinta doesn’t name Alok Nath but
labelled the accused as ‘most #Sanskaari (Cultured) person in the film and
television industry’. As everyone knows, Alok Nath is famous as Sanskari Babuji
in the industry.
However, Vinta later confirmed it is Alok Nath she is
talking about in the post to IANS. Vinita said, "It is Alok Nath. I
thought saying 'sanskaari' would do the needful."
A Still From Tara TV Series
In a long heart-wrenching post on FB, she wrote, “I was
producing and writing the No 1 show on TV called Tara. He was after my lead
girl. She was not interested in him. He was an alcoholic, shameless
and obnoxious but he was also the television star of that decade, so not only
was he forgiven for all his bad behaviour but many of the guys would egg him on
to be his worst. My lead female actor was being harassed by him. He would mess
with her on the sets and everyone would be silent. When she complained to us,
we decided to let him go. We needed one last shot between them and soon after
it had been taken we had planned to let him know that we didn’t want to work
with him any longer. He had become aware of our plan and on that day, he came
drunk on our sets. He continued to drink till the time he was called for
the shot. When the moment came and the camera rolled, he felt up our female
lead and very viciously. My lead actress slapped him. We asked him to
leave the sets and told him that he was not going to be on the show any
longer.”
Further narrating her horrific incident, she continued,
“I was invited to a party to this man’s house, his wife, my best friend was out
of town. It was usual for our group of friends from theatre to meet regularly
so there was nothing unusual about my going to the party. As the evening
flowed, my drinks were mixed and I began to feel strange. Then at around 2am I
left his house. Nobody followed me or offered to drop me home, which was what
was rather unusual. All I knew at the time was that I had to get home. I could
sense it wouldn’t be right for me to stay there any longer. I started to walk
home on the empty streets although the distance to my own house was long.
Midway I was accosted by this man who was driving his own car and he asked me
to sit in it and said he would drop me home. I trusted him and sat in his car.
I have faint memory after that. I can remember more liquor being poured into my
mouth and I remember being violated endlessly. When I woke up the next
afternoon, I was in pain. I hadn’t just been raped, I was taken to my own house
and had been brutalised. I couldn’t get up for my bed. I told some of my
friends but everybody advised me to forget about it and move on.”
She also advised other girls to not hold it back, she
further wrote, “I have waited for this moment to come for 19 years. I shout out
to each one of you who have suffered at the hands of predators to come out and
say it aloud. Don’t hold yourselves back. This is a moment for change so your
silence will only hold barriers to its evolution. Speak out. Shout out from the
top of the roof. My friend Nutan who is no more took me to the back road
of #LokhandwalaComplex in #Andheri where she made me break a 100 empty bottles
and I threw them into the mangroves and shouted out all my anger and
frustration. I never looked back after that day.”
Giving a hint about the accused identity, she wrote,
“Irony is that the man, the predator in question here is the actor par
excellence who is known as the most #Sanskaari (Cultured) person in the film
and television industry.”
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