Actress Soni Razdan, who has previously worked with #MeToo accused Alok Nath, told The Quint that when she heard about Vinta Nanda's account, she was "horrified" and added that it is a known fact that Alok Nath, "very sadly, had a Jekyll and Hyde personality." Dr Henry Jekyll is a fictional character, whose evil alternate ego was Edward Hyde. Writer-producer Vinta Nanda has accused Alok Nath of raping her almost two decades ago. The duo had together worked in the 90s show Tara. "I have seen him behave very, very, I would say lecherously after he has been drunk. Even at one time, I wouldn't say he made a pass at me but I didn't like the way he was looking at me," Ms Razdan told The Quint, adding that for Alok Nath the "best thing he could do today is just acknowledge it and apologise to Vinta because she deserves that apology."
Soni Razdan's statement is an echo of what actress Himani Shivpuri, who is Alok Nath's co-star of several films, earlier said. "Whenever we shot in daytime, he would be mild and normal but after having liquor he used to be this Jekyll and Hyde person. He used to change completely. I heard from actresses that they had a tough time working with him," she told news agency PTI. Similar things were also said by actor Deven Bhojnani, who joined Tara after Alok Nath had quit Tara.
After Vinta Nanda, actress Sandhya Mridul and a crew member from his 1998 film Hum Saath-Saath Hain recounted their #MeToo stories implicating Alok Nath. Tara star Navneet Nishan also corroborated Vinta Nanda's account of alleged rape which also included details of how she was harassed on the sets of the show, allegedly by Alok Nath.
Alok Nath, the 'sanskaari bapuji' of various films and serials, has been sent show cause notices by several film bodies. Meanwhile, he sued Ms Nanda for defamation and asked for a written apology while she in turn filed a police complaint against the actor.
Soni Razdan worked with Alok Nath in the 80s hit show Buniyaad. In the interview to The Quint, she also opened up about her #MeToo story and said she hasn't faced sexual harassment while approaching someone for work, but she did faced it other ways.
"When I was on a film shoot and somebody tried to rape me, for example that kind of thing. Luckily they didn't succeed," she said. However, she didn't report it that time because she didn't want his family to suffer through the trauma after learning about his actions.
"I realised if I would have opened my mouth that person would have gone through a lot of problems. He had a family, small children. And at that time I said, ok, nothing really happened, I managed to control it but obviously I never spoke to that person again. I did not, not talk about it because of any shame or anything like that. I felt that I would be hurting his family, whom I knew," she told the Quint, adding that if the incident would have happened in today's times, she would have complained.
Soni Razdan is married to filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and the couple are parents to daughters Shaheen and Alia, also an actress.
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