Ganesh Acharya accused of forcing woman to watch porn videos
A 33-year-old woman has filed a police complaint against National Award-winning choreographer Ganesh Acharya, accusing him of traumatic abuse, allegedly depriving her of work, demanding commission and forcing her to watch "adult videos". The complainant, an assistant choreographer, alleged that Acharya has been harassing her ever since he became the General Secretary of the Indian Film & Television Choreographers Association. Here are more details.
The complaint against Acharya has been registered at the Maharashtra Women's Commission and Amboli police station in Mumbai. The complainant has alleged that Acharya misused his position to get her membership from the choreographers' association canceled, because of which her income has stopped and she can't find work. She also claimed that Acharya pressurized dancers to pay an extra Rs. 500 from their earnings.
Further, the complainant has revealed that when she used to work at Acharya's office, he would make inappropriate comments upon her and even asked her to watch pornographic videos, to which she never agreed.
Not long ago, veteran choreographer Saroj Khan had also accused Acharya of exploiting dancers and using his position to malign the Cine Dancers Association (CDA). However, Acharya on Friday dismissed the allegations leveled against him. He said in a statement, "Saroj [Khan] ji is speaking wrong... When the CDA was closed why did not she come to help us to open it?"
To recall, Acharya was previously involved in model/actress Tanushree Dutta's complaints against Nana Patekar, that surfaced during the #MeToo movement in India. In her complaint, Dutta had accused Patekar of physically and sexually harassing her on the sets of a 2008 film, and Acharya of supporting Patekar in the act. "He's (Acharya) a bloody liar and a two-faced person," Dutta had said.
Over the course of past three decades, Acharya has choreographed for songs in movies such as Simmba, Zero, Padmaavat, Sanju and Judwaa 2. He has worked with celebrities like Madhuri Dixit Nene, Govinda, Salman Khan, Shraddha Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, and Varun Dhawan, among others.
