Richa Chadha is nothing if not determined. On Tuesday, she shared a screenshot of a courier's waybill for the hard copy of a legal notice that she sent to the actress who has accused filmmaker Anurag Kashyap of sexual harassment and also named Ms Chadha in the process. As Richa Chadha explained on Monday evening, the soft copy of the legal notice was sent but the hard copy could not be delivered because Mr Kashyap's accuser had refused to accept it. In her Tuesday's post, Ms Chadha revealed that the legal representative who was delivering the document was refused entry to the actress' residence although media teams were. Undeterred, Richa Chadha couriered the legal notice. Read her post here.
Richa Chadha, Huma Qureshi and Mahie Gill - all three of whom have been directed by Anurag Kashyap - found themselves dragged into the controversy after the actress claimed in an interview with ABN Telugu that Mr Kashyap had said they were "just a phone call away," to which she allegedly responded, "You have given chance to Richa Chadha, Mahie Gill, Huma Qureshi... they are so nominal looking girls. Generally directors don't give them chance but you have done a great job. But I am not mentally prepared for this right now."
Richa Chadha and Huma Qureshi, who starred in Anurag Kashyap's Gangs Of Wasseypur films, have both reacted sharply. Ms Chadha issued this lawyer's statement: "Our client 'Ms. Richa Chadha' condemns the act of her name being unnecessarily and falsely dragged in a derogatory manner into controversies and allegations being recently raised by third parties. Though our Client believes that genuinely wronged women should get justice at all costs, there are legislations that are intended to ensure that women have an equal standing in their workplace and to ensure that they have a cordial workplace in which their dignity and self-respect is protected. No woman should misuse their liberties to harass other women with unsubstantiated or non-existent, false and baseless allegations. Our Client has initiated appropriate legal action and shall further pursue her legal rights and remedies in law as may be advised in her best interest."
Huma Qureshi wrote on Tuesday: "Anurag and I last worked together in 2012-13 and he is a dear friend and an extremely talented director. In my personal experience and to my knowledge he has neither misbehaved with me or anyone else. However, anyone who claims to be abused must report to the authorities, the police and the judiciary. I chose not to comment till now because I don't believe in social media fights and social media trials. I feel really angry at being dragged into this mess. I feel angry not just for myself but also every woman whose years of hard work and struggle gets reduced to such baseless conjecture and allegations in their workplace. Please let's refrain from this narrative. It is the joint responsibility of women and men both to carefully protest the sanctity of #MeToo. This is my final response. Please do not approach me to make any more statements on this matter."
Anurag Kashyap, who denies the accusations, has received support from several colleagues as well as his former partners, actress Kalki Koechlin and editor Aarti Bajaj.
