Tanushree Dutta, Femina Miss India 2004, is in a lot of trouble. She walked out of the set of a movie alleging inappropriate behaviour by actor Nana Patekar and differences with the director.

Now the trouble part – she faces a 65 million fine, blacklisting by the industry and an unconditional public apology to Nana Patekar. The terms have been set by Raj Thackeray, yeah my man.

Tanushree’s allegations could be true or contorted. If its true (going by her statement below in Mid Day), it is a clear case of sexual harassment.

What awaited Tanushree on the set was four days of horror. “From the start, I wasn’t comfortable with Nana Patekar’s presence. Nana had just three words O yara re in the song. Still he insisted on being around throughout. That was fine. He’s the film’s hero and it’s his prerogative. But then, instead of the choreographer, Nana started showing me the steps.”

Tanushree made her displeasure at this very clear. “A couple of times, I pushed his hands away when he got too close. But it didn’t seem to make a difference. He continued to direct my steps roughly and aggressively. Things got really out of hand when Ganesh incorporated steps where Nana could get physically close to me.” That’s when the actress chose to walk off the set and lock herself up in her van.  full story

Tanushree the “item girl”, doing an “item number” – these are the phrases used by several media outlets covering the issue. Despite this, if her part of the story is true – it is a clear case of organized sexual harassment because neither I nor the legal system in India understand the term “item girl”.  She’s a girl who had the caliber to win Miss India, item or not. Its time we understand the spin.

Now assuming her allegations are false, even then the treatment meted out to her at the studio (shown on Tv) was despicable. And the story gets more interesting as Raj Thackeray steps in.

Nana Patekar being a true Maratha, or as Raj calls him “Pride of Maharashtra”, the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has taken strong exception to allegations of “indecent behaviour” levelled against Bollywood actor Nana Patekar by upcoming star Tanushree Datta. MNS has demanded a public apology from Tanushree, failing which MNS will launch an agitation against her. They have also asked the industry to blacklist her. On top of this, she has to pay 65 million in defamation fine.

The sad part of this whole thing is – these threats will work! Tanushree Dutta is no Amitabh Bachchan, and everyone knows what MNS is capable of. I would that our Tv news channels shift their zoom from her “item” bits to an individual’s helplessness. And perhaps give a minute of airtime to think how this incident will play out in the minds of several hundreds of girls who work in the movie industry.

The sheer helplessness of an individual against an organized regional outfit with complete disregard for law ought to be our problem, and calling her an “item girl” at this point is a bit too much of insensitivity. If Raj is ‘proud’ of Nana for what the maratha did to Tanushree, it goes a long way to prove what “maharashtrian” culture he wants in Mumbai.

Nana is not convicted, nor do we know what happened. But what is happening now is harassment of another kind. Then I wasn’t surprised when Raj came out in support of Nana because I was surprised a few weeks back when Nana came out in support of Raj.

So thats pretty much it. Next time Raj sets Mumbai on fire – support him! Then all those chicks are yours, if they resist he’ll agitate.

that must be the Maximum city!