Swastika on sexual harassment by Shibpur producer: Srijit, Tota, Arjunn Dutta called. Rest of T’wood, the Artists’ Forum kept mum

Last week, Swastika Mukherjee opened up about the sexual harassment and threats she received from one of the producers of the political thriller Shibpur, Sandeep Sarkar. She reported the harassment to the police, EIMPA (Eastern Indian Motion Pictures Association), West Bengal Motion Picture Artists’ Forum, and even at the US Consulate in Kolkata as the accused is reportedly a US citizen. While EIMPA promptly took action against the producer and removed his name from the film credit, the Qala actress alleged that the Artists’ Forum – the body that safeguards the interests of the actors and actresses – paid no heed to the emails she sent to them. 

Talking to OTTplay, Swastika said, “I emailed them (West Bengal Motion Picture Artists’ Forum) all the details of the harassment. Piya Sengupta of EIMPA mailed them the details. As of today, there is no response from them. I am not really surprised but appalled. The forum takes membership fees from all of us and when it comes to taking a stand for the artists they are nowhere to be found. On the other hand, EIMPA was prompt. There was no lackadaisical attitude from them. They extended help as much as they could.”

Also read: Shibpur controversy: After Swastika Mukherjee’s allegations, the producer stepped down  

It is not just the Artists’ Forum, Swastika said that very few people from the Bengali film industry called her. “The first person to call me was Arjunn Dutta. Srijit (Mukherji) also called and asked what’s the matter and if I was ok. He was shooting in Bolpur. Meanwhile, I am shooting with Tota (Roy Chowdhury) and he also asked if I was ok and how all this happened. Apart from them, no one called or asked anything. The other actors in the film, Parambrata (Chatterjee), Rony da (Rajatava Dutta) Kharaj da (Mukhopadhyay) -- no one asked anything. Not that I expected, but I will have to admit that after the news was reported nationally, many of my friends and fraternity members from the Hindi film industry, including Karnesh (Sharma) of Clean Slate Filmz, called.”

Meanwhile, The other producer of the film, Ajanta Sinha Roy said that she stands by Swastika in the case of harassment and it is the director Arindam Bhattacharya who has created a misunderstanding. Responding to this, Swastika said, “Ajanta Sinha Roy and her EP were marked in almost all the emails that Sandeep was sending to me. There were emails where he said he would take me to the police commissioner and report me to the US consulate so that I don’t get a US visa. He also threatened to drag me to the police station for extortion. She never protested about those emails. She also claimed that Sandeep is their family friend and she took absolutely no effort to stop him from harassing me, not even when Sandeep admitted that Ravish Sharma (who morphed Swastika’s photos and threatened to send the nude photos to pornography sites) is a known person to him. Now she is saying that Arindam did not let her talk to me. But why did she listen to him? She has a mobile phone, my number, and my email id. She could just have called me.”

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

According to sources, There has been a tiff between the director and producers from the very beginning of the shooting. “One day the EP came and said that there are differences between the producers and Arindam. They said that they found Arindam mentally unfit. Now, I have little to do with it. Why should I be dragged into a feud between the producer and director? I laid out the rules of my work, finances, and everything in the contract. And mind you, my contract is the same for every house – big or small. I don’t change the terms and conditions for Netflix or any other bigger houses. I went to the set on time, gave my best, and got home. I am one of the most visible actresses during the promotions. I see a project as my film and hence, take it as a personal goal to make sure more and more people know about the film. I take pride in that. I am keen to showcase my work. Even in the contract, it is written that I will charge extra if I am asked to attend a TV reality show for promotion and nothing else for the rest of the promotions. I have been doing it for years. Then why was I dragged into it? And why did Anjanta not utter a word when she knew what was happening? Today when I went to the cops and EIMPA she is saying that she stood by me. It makes no sense.”  

Swastika is happy that Sandeep’s name is removed from the credit list. “Piya Sengupta assured that Sandeep Sarkar will not be allowed to produce films in Bengal. I had to speak up. I made my position today by sheer hard work I don’t want producers like Sandeep Sarkar to bully and harass younger artistes whose voices will not be heard,” the actress said.