Anurag
Kashyap
BREAKS
SILENCE
on
Vikas
Bahl
Controversy;
Check
Out
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FilmiBeat
Filmmaker
Anurag
Kashyap
has
opened
up
about
the
sexual
harassment
allegation
against
his
Phantom
Films
partner
Vikas
Bahl,
saying
he
was
"ill-advised"
in
the
matter
by
his
lawyers.
In
a
recent
article
in
Huffpost
India,
a
former
woman
employee
of
the
now
dissolved
production
banner
has
reiterated
the
allegations
and
shared
further
details
about
the
incident
in
May
2015.
According
to
the
report,
the
woman
said
she
had
reached
out
to
Kashyap
and
detailed
her
experience,
but
no
action
was
taken
while
Bahl
continued
to
harass
her
until
she
finally
quit
the
company.
In
a
two-page
statement
on
Twitter,
Kashyap
said
his
legal
aides
told
him
that
there
was
nothing
he
could
do
to
fire
Bahl
from
Phantom
Films,
which
they
set
up
seven
years
ago.
"While
at
Phantom,
I
did
everything
I
could,
within
what
I
was
told
by
my
partner
and
his
lawyers.
For
legal
and
financial
decisions,
I
was
fully
dependent
on
my
partner
and
his
team.
They
took
care
of
those
things
so
I
could
focus
on
what
I
did
better,
creatives.
His
word
and
his
team's
word
on
any
matter
used
to
be
the
final
word
for
us,"
he
wrote
in
the
statement.
"According
to
legal
advice
provided
to
me
then,
I
was
told
that
we
had
very
limited
options.
Now
in
hindsight
and
after
taking
stock
of
things
myself,
I
can
quite
see
how
I
was
ill-advised,"
he
added.
Kashyap
said
given
limited
options,
the
company
decided
to
a
"strong
moral
stand"
that
included
barring
Bahl
from
the
office
premises
and
taking
away
his
signing
authority.
The
filmmaker
also
said
that
he
"named
and
shamed"
Bahl
in
private
"amongst
whoever
asked
about
it".
He
claimed
that
nothing
about
the
allegations
against
Bahl
was
"under
wraps".
"The
victim
had
complete
trust
in
me
individually.
However,
since
she
knew
I
depended
on
others
to
handle
legalities
(and
perhaps
was
more
perceptive
than
me
in
seeing
how
I
was
being
poorly
advised),
maybe
she
found
it
difficult
to
trust
that
I
would
be
able
to
(or
allowed
to)
see
the
plan
through
of
stripping
Vikas
of
his
power
within
the
company.
"This
could
perhaps
also
be
why
she
eventually
backed
out
of
signing
the
document
that
was
being
put
in
place
capturing
the
terms
of
how
this
would
be
dealt
with,"
he
added.
Kashyap
also
said
that
the
lawyers
told
him
that
Bahl's
removal
from
the
company
was
hindered
by
two
things
--
his
status
as
"an
equal
promoter/director
who
actually
ran
the
company"
and
that
there
was
no
clause
in
their
contract
to
fire
him
"on
the
grounds
of
misconduct".
He
claimed
that
the
story
got
out
only
after
he
corroborated
it
with
the
journalist.
He
also
said
that
he
was
the
anonymous
source
who
leaked
out
the
story
to
the
press
last
year.
"Why
did
I
take
time
to
corroborate
the
story?
Because
I
took
time
trusting
the
journalist.
I
placed
my
trust
in
him
only
when
the
victim
told
me
that
I
could.
Corroborating
the
story
is
also
taking
a
stand.
Kashyap
said
that
for
a
long
time
the
victim
did
not
tell
him
about
the
incident
because
"she
saw
me
dealing
with
depression".
"She
put
herself
through
a
personal
hell
to
protect
me
and
I
could
not
because
I
was
unfortunately
ill-advised
that
there
is
little
I
could
do.
That
being
said,
I
fully
understand
that
it
is
no
excuse
whatsoever
and
all
of
my
actions
above
I'd
hope
are
demonstrative
of
every
intention
on
my
part
to
set
this
right."
The
filmmaker
said
there
are
not
many
provisions
to
deal
with
sexual
harassment
in
the
industry
and
feels
it
is
"extremely
ill-equipped"
to
counter
this
menace.
"This
industry
is
extremely
ill-equipped
to
handle
matters
such
as
sexual
harassment,
copyright,
censorship
and
all
the
things
we
put
ourselves
in
dock
with.
A
large
part
of
the
reason
for
this
is
that
there
is
clearly
lack
of
correct
advice
and
awareness
of
legal
remedies,"
he
added.
He
apologised
to
the
victim
and
said
he
will
ensure
that
such
incidents
would
not
happen
again
on
his
work
premises.
According
to
the
publication,
they
had
also
sent
detailed
questionnaires
to
Phantom
Films's
remaining
three
partners
--
Bahl,
Vikramaditya
Motwane
and
Madhu
Mantena.
Before
the
article
was
published,
the
four
partners
Saturday
announced
that
have
decided
to
dissolve
their
joint
banner
Phantom
Films,
without
citing
the
reason
for
this
decision.
Credits
-
PTI