Director Vikas Bahl receives a clean chit in the MeToo controversy; Sona Mohapatra questions Bollywood industry’s conscience!

It was in October 2018, that a female crew member of the now-dissolved Phantom films had accused filmmaker Vikas Bahl of sexual misconduct during the promotional tour of Bombay Velvet in 2015. Now after months of investigations, the Queen Director has been given the clean chit by the internal inquiry committee of Reliance Entertainment.

When the allegations were broke Vikas was removed as the director of Super 30, now that he has received a clean chit, he gets back his credits and can now return to the film. According to Mumbai Mirror reports, the complainant, despite repeated reminders never turned up before the committee.

"Yes, it is true that the internal complaints committee report has exonerated Vikas Bahl. With the committee clearing Vikas, we don’t have a choice but to reinstate his credit as director of Super 30," Shibasish Sarkar, Group CEO, Reliance Entertainment informed Mumbai Mirror.

Kangana Ranaut, who has worked with Vikas in Queen, also talked about his indecent behavior. Not only did this trigger the Phantom partners Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane to react to this entire controversy, but Hrithik Roshan also tweeted saying he wasn’t okay with working anyone guilty of such grave misconduct. He also urged the Super 30 makers to take appropriate measures.

Since the news of Bahl getting a clean chit has been doing rounds, twitteratis have a mixed opinion on the verdict, some are pleased and some are furious. Check out the reactions below:

Singer Sona Mohapatra, who has always been vocal about harassment against women and misogyny in the Bollywood industry, took to her official social media handle and tweeted, “The fraternity, filmmakers, crews, actors & all participants of this industry who know the truth should stand up & want to clean up this open secret of a mess? This is a systemic issue. Rehabilitation of such men will harm us all. Their disease will show up sooner or later..”

In an exclusive interview with In.com, Sona opened up about her opinion on the latest #MeToo verdict. She said, "The shade is honestly on anybody who is just waiting for an excuse that one poor girl didn't show up. Means everything she said in the past in detail to a publication is all lies? It was all a conspiracy to malign Vikas Bahl? Come on. 

"There are multiple people who spoke up against Vikas' behavior over the years. She was not the only one. So suddenly the producers of Super 30 are forgetting all of that? (As they are now giving Vikas the credit as Director) They are conveniently just looking for one straw to latch on to? That's their call; they have their conscience to live with. They have to sleep with that conscience.”

Clearly not pleased with the committee's decision to let Bahl go, she also emphasized on a more sensitive and empathizing system. "The whole system, the industry, should come together and question their own conscience here and try and understand that which women have we right now shown solidarity to the extent of saying we will understand something like a systemic problem when multiple sources have confirmed certain person's consistent behavior which fits in to a certain narrative," she added.

The trailer of Super 30 releases next week. We are to see if Bahl makes a public appearance and chooses to speak on the entire episode. Let us know what you think in the comments section below and stay tuned for more updates!