Journalist Sandhya Menon tweeted Niharika Singh’s Me too story document on 9th November 2018. Apart from Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Niharika Singh also wrote about the comments and ill-treatment she had to take from Bollywood film producer Bhushan Kumar and Sajid Khan. Sajid Khan has earlier been accused of sexual harassment by various women in the industry and has finally dropped out of his position from the film he was working on.
After winning the title of ‘Miss India’ in a beauty pageant in 2005, her journey in Bollywood was no less than a slippery slope. Nawazuddin Siddiqui, her ex-boyfriend harassed her emotionally, mentally and physically for multiple times that she can recall. She even points out to the fake anecdotes that his autobiography contained and that he had to withdraw the book after legal complaints were filed against him and the editor for not fact-checking. Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who is on an upward slope on his career graph, has been acknowledged and appreciated by his fans for his latest movie ‘Manto’ and also Netflix original series ‘Sacred Games’, has been accused of sexual harassment by Niharika Singh and his alleged dark side has come out through the document penned down by her.
She says “One morning, when I was home and he had been shooting all night, Nawaz sent me a text saying he was near my building. I invited him over and asked him to come and have breakfast with me. When I opened the door, he grabbed me. I tried to push him away but he wouldn’t let go. After a little coercion, I finally gave in. I wasn’t sure what to make of this relationship. He told me it was his dream to have a Miss India or an actress wife, just like Paresh Rawal and Manoj Bajpayee. I found his little confession funny but endearing.”
She also talks about Nawaz engaging himself with multiple women at the same time. She immediately cut all contacts that she had with him when she got to know about this. Read Niharika’s full story in the following tweets.
2005 Miss India Niharika Singh's experiences in Bollywood but especially with Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Mayank Singh Singvi
Niharika and other women accused Siddiqui of making up lies in his autobiography, due to which he withdrew the book.
This is her side of the story. pic.twitter.com/XBVGgE3r0c
— Sandhya Menon (@TheRestlessQuil) November 9, 2018
In a recent tweet, Nawazuddin’s co-star Kubbra Sait defended the actor saying that failed relationship cannot be equated to #Metoo.
A relationship gone sour, isn’t #MeToo someone needs to recognise the toxic difference before we go picking sides.
I stand by #NawazuddinSiddiqui or #Nowaz as a man.— Kubbra Sait (@kubrasait) November 10, 2018
Niharika Singh also expresses her concern about violence against Dalit women, and that no one takes that into account. According to her, serious actions are taken when the same atrocity happens with women of higher caste as compared to the lower caste women. She believes that patriarchy already exists, dominating the female gender, but discrimination is further rooted amongst women differentiating them on the basis of their caste.
You can read the full-length post by Niharika here.
The question to ask is if Nawazuddin is guilty, is it okay to still be a fan of his on-screen performance? Is it okay to separate the ART from the ARTIST?
