Neha Saxena Reveals She Was Assaulted On The Sets Of A Tamil Film, Says Director & His Actor-Son Warned Her

Neha Saxena recently lodged a complaint with the Bangalore police and brought light to a shocking incident that took place on the sets of a Tamil film, where she was allegedly assaulted. The actress disclosed the episode during her interaction with E Times and shared that she received dire threats from the Keralite director during the film's shooting.

Revealing that the director approached her requesting to play the character as a help as it marked his son's debut film, she said, "The director's son, a debutant is playing the lead role in the movie. They had approached me, requested to portray the character as a 'help' as none other established actor would do the role, opposite any newbie. I was promised a role opposite Prakash Raj/ Nasser M, and as they are also acquainted with me, and the pandemic situation has affected all of us, I agreed to do the film. I took an advance token of Rs. 50, 000 and signed the contract. On the first day of the shoot, I felt the sets were a bit odd, as the people and the certain activities happening there weren't supposed to be and I felt uncomfortable. Two days later, I spoke with the director and expressed that I am not comfortable working in that atmosphere. The script wasn't satisfactory, as I had already said no to some 'unwanted' intimate scenes and the way my character was getting shaped wasn't passable. The director started to scare me, told me that the producer has connections with the mafias and they have a torture room in the casino they own, where they can get me tortured, raped, or even shoot me down. I even told him that I am willing to give back the advance."

She further revealed that she was tricked as neither Prakash Raj nor Naseer was a part of the project. Neha divulged that she even reported the odd activities happening on the sets following which her co-star's husband picked up a fight with her.

"The owner of the hotel approached me, asking if I would like to spend a night with him and a few of his influential friends. That was when I lost it. How dare would they ask that to me? I told him he was asking the wrong person and upon reaching my room, I informed the director. Instead of confronting the owner, the director told me that even though he quizzed the owner, the latter would deny it, and it would affect the whole cast and crew as they wanted the hotel for another 10 days. I was getting blank calls at midnights, people would knock on my door and I was petrified. The director's words that a producer is a dangerous man and the torture room in the casino were playing in my head", she added.

Shockingly, she also added that the young actor (the director's son) while shooting strangled her neck and even threw her off the stairs as he was 'upset' with her, post which she was injured. She went on to say, "While we were nearing the completion, I was shooting for a particular scene with the director's son, who is the lead actor, where he had to hold me by my neck, and another artist would enter and do an open fire. But instead, the director's son strangled my neck and threw me off the stairs. Due to the incident, I had bruises on my tail bone and thighs. It wasn't an accident at all. The director's son was upset with me as I reported those odd activities on the sets. The director apologized, said in another two days my portions would be over and I could go."

Neha opened up that she was shocked to learn that one of the producers of the film had nothing to do with the threatening episode. As she shared about the events with him, he assured her to solve the issue, however, the director accused her of lying about the payment settlement. Following an argument, the director said that he would shoot her with his licensed gun and also threatened her assistant.

She confessed that she and her assistant had to flee from the hotel with the help of a friend and later decided to file a complaint. "I met the Commissioner, DCP, ACP and gave all the proof. The director, producer, and the team were summoned. They denied it initially, but thankfully I had adequate proof against them. Although the producers have done nothing to do with what had happened, they were supposed to be responsible for my safety. With the intervention of the police, I received the apology letter from them confessing all of this because I want to be safe in the future. I cannot wrap my head around the fact that this director screamed that I played a prostitute in the film Kasaba! The police had to remind him that it was a character I played on screen. The police also helped me get my payment, and I want to thank them for bringing the truth out."

She concluded by saying that she wants the world to know the physical abuse and mental trauma she faced during the shooting, however, didn't want to reveal the wrongdoers' names. During the interaction, she also mentioned that the director had time and again threatened and warned her about the 2017 Malayalam actress abduction and sexual incident case.

For the unversed, a case was registered in February 2017, after a leading south actress was allegedly abducted and sexually assaulted in a moving car in Kerala.

For women in distress help available at, Central Social Welfare Board -Police Helpline: 1091/ 1291, (011) 23317004; Shakti Shalini- women's shelter: (011) 24373736/ 24373737; All India Women's Conference: 10921/ (011) 23389680; Joint Women's Programme: (011) 24619821; Sakshi- violence intervention center: (0124) 2562336/ 5018873; Nirmal Niketan (011) 27859158; JAGORI (011) 26692700; Nari Raksha Samiti: (011) 23973949; RAHI Recovering and Healing from Incest. A support centre for women survivors of child sexual abuse: (011) 26238466/ 26224042, 26227647.