New Delhi: Actress Swastika Mukherjee, who is a popular name in Bengali movies and was recently seen in the movie 'Qala' has accused a film producer named Sandeep Sarkar of threatening her. She alleged that she received threatening emails from Sandeep and his associates. He is the co-producer of her upcoming Bengali film 'Shibpur'.
SWASTIKA MUKHERJEE ACCUSES FILM PRODUCER
Swastika told OTT play, "It all started pretty randomly. During the entire course of shooting and dubbing, I have never been introduced to Sandeep Sarkar. It was another co-producer Ajanta Sinha Roy who communicated with us. Suddenly, Sandeep Sarkar started sending me threatening emails. He claimed that he was an American citizen and that if I didn’t ‘cooperate’ with them he would get in touch with the US Consulate so that I never get a US visa. He also threatened to drag me to the Police Commissioner, Chief Minister, and so on. Now I have absolutely no idea what this ‘cooperation’ means. I shot the film and dubbed it and I never intended not to participate in promotional activities. Initially, the film was scheduled to release in March. I emailed my available dates to them. There was no response. Later, they shifted the release. And yet they did not bother to let me know. I got to know it from our director and again mailed him my available dates. By then he was supposed to helm the promotional activities. Now, what are they even talking about? There have been no marketing or PR plans that I received. In fact, when they released the poster, I shared it on my social media also.”
'HE MORPHED BY PICS'
According to IANS, Swastika claimed that she was allegedly informed that her pictures have been morphed and these images will be shared on pornography websites. The actress has filed a complaint with regards to sexual harassment at Golf Green Police Station in Kolkata.
Swastika's manager also reportedly got a threatening email from someone called Ravish Sharma, who claimed to be Sandeep Sarkar's friend. The actress said, "He (Ravish Sharma) further claimed that he was a ‘brilliant’ computer hacker. He said that he would ‘morph’ my pictures and send them to pornography websites. Along with the email, he sent two of my images that are morphed and nude. This amounted to sexual harassment. Sandeep Sarkar admitted that they are acquaintances."
She also reached out to the Eastern India Motion Pictures Association, along with scanned copies of these threat emails. While clarifying the nature of her association with the producer, the actor mentioned that she had never met the producer while shooting for 'Shibpur'.
As per media reports, while the co-producer's legal representative has denied his involvement in any such act they have also said that the actress took the step after she was instigated by the director of the film, Arindam Bhattacharya.
'Shibpur' is slated to release in cinemas on May 5, 2023. It also features Parambrata Chatterjee, Rajatava Dutta, Mamata Shankar, Kharaj Mukhopadhyay, Susmita Mukherjee among others.
