Back in 2018, as the #MeToo movement gained momentum in India, multiple women had accused director Sajid Khan of sexual harassment.
Another shocking addition has been made to the list – recently, Jiah Khan’s sister Karishma Khan opened up about Sajid’s alleged sexual misconduct with Jiah.
Karishma narrated this incident in BBC’s 3-part docu-series ‘Death in Bollywood’ which is based around her sister Jiah’s life. She was said to have allegedly died by suicide in 2013.
Jiah had worked with Sajid Khan for the comedy film ‘Housefull’. Jiah’s sister alleged that Sajid had sexually harassed Jiah during a rehearsal!
“It was a rehearsal, she was reading the scripts and he asked her to take off her top and her bra. She didn’t know what to do, she said ‘the filming hasn’t even begun yet and this is happening.’ She came home and cried. She was like ‘No, I have contracts. If I leave, they can sue me and slander my name. And if I stay, then I’m sexually harassed!”
Karishma further revealed that Sajid had made sexually inappropriate advances towards her too, when she was 16 and had gone to his house with Jiah. Her horrified sister had immediately jumped to her defense.
“I must have been like 16 at this stage. And I was just wearing a strappy top. He just sort of stared and said ‘Oh, she wants sex,’ to me. Jiah immediately jumped to my defense – ‘No, what are you talking about?’ He said ‘Look at the way she is sitting.’ And my sister was like ‘No, she’s innocent, she’s young! She doesn’t know what she wants.’ We left shortly after that, but I remember feeling cheap and shocked.”
Talking about Sajid Khan – after the accusations levelled at him, the director had stepped down from ‘Housefull 4’, and had tweeted:
Since then, Saijid has remained silent about the accusations.
