Shibpur controversy: Swastika Mukherjee opens up about harassment by co-producer | Exclusive

Swastika Mukherjee and Parambrata Chatterjee’s political thriller Shibpur is scheduled to release on May 5. However, just a couple of months before the release, the actress brought a series of serious allegations against the film’s co-producer Sandeep Sarkar of Indo-Americana Production. The actress alleged that she received threatening emails from the co-producers. Furthermore, she added that she received threats from the associates of the co-producers, who were said to have morphed her images and threatened to share the photos on pornography websites. Swastika lodged a complaint at Golf Green Police Station in March. Besides, she also complained to Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA), along with scanned copies of threat mails. Directed by Arindam Bhattacharya, the film also features Rajatava Dutta, Mamata Shankar, Kharaj Mukhopadhyay, Susmita Mukherjee, and others.  

Also read: Shibpur: When and where to watch Parambrata Chatterjee and Swastika Mukherjee’s political thriller 

Talking to OTTplay, the actress said, “It all started pretty randomly. During the entire course of shooting and dubbing, I have never been introduced to Sandeep Sarkar. It was another co-producer Ajanta Sinha Roy who communicated with us. Suddenly, Sandeep Sarkar started sending me threatening emails. He claimed that he was an American citizen and that if I didn’t ‘cooperate’ with them he would get in touch with the US Consulate so that I never get a US visa. He also threatened to drag me to the Police Commissioner, Chief Minister, and so on. Now I have absolutely no idea what this ‘cooperation’ means. I shot the film and dubbed it and I never intended not to participate in promotional activities. Initially, the film was scheduled to release in March. I emailed my available dates to them. There was no response. Later, they shifted the release. And yet they did not bother to let me know. I got to know it from our director and again mailed him my available dates. By then he was supposed to helm the promotional activities. Now, what are they even talking about? There have been no marketing or PR plans that I received. In fact, when they released the poster, I shared it on my social media also.”

It was just the beginning of the harassment of Swastika. She received an email from Ravish Sharma, who claimed to be a friend of Sandeep Sarkar. “He further claimed that he was a ‘brilliant’ computer hacker. He said that he would ‘morph’ my pictures and send them to pornography websites. Along with the email, he sent two of my images that are morphed and nude. This amounted to sexual harassment. Sandeep Sarkar admitted that they are acquaintances,” said Swastika. Later, her manager Shrishti Jain also received a threatening email from Ravish Sharma. 

This started in the middle of March and Swastika went to the police almost immediately after receiving the threat emails. “If I wanted, I would have talked to the media about it then. I kept quiet because I wanted the release of Shibpur to be smooth. But it does not seem to end. Everyone will vouch for the fact that I did my job diligently while shooting. I went on time and did everything in my control to portray the character truthfully. This person (Sandeep Sarkar) is saying I have extorted money. I did not get paid a dime extra beyond what was there in the contract,” she said, adding, “I have been working for 23 years in the entertainment industry. This is my 102nd film. I work not only in the Bengali industry but also outside. I take part in promotions like no one else does. During the release of Arjun Dutt’s Shrimati, I engaged in every possible promotional activity. I would do the same for Shibpur. I had to get the marketing and promotion plans. Also, we must not forget that even if hypothetically an artiste refuses to do promotions, one can never send them threatening emails.”