Mumbai: Actress Rajshri Deshpande has penned an open letter to Payal Ghosh, who has levelled sexual harassment charges against filmmaker Anurag Kashyap.
Rajshri has appeared in Anurag Kashyap’s directorial “Choked: Paisa Bolta Hai” and the web series “Sacred Games”.
In her open letter titled “Let the truth prevail”, posted as a thread on her verified Twitter account, Rajshri fears that one false narrative might damage so many other voices who have suffered.
Rajshri in her open letter asked why Payal did not hesitate before using the names of other actresses to support her claim, which maybe derogatory or defamatory. The actress also shared her concern that if the acquisitions are false then #MeToo movement will start crumbling and lose its aim.
The open letter reads: “#Thread – Let the truth prevail
Dear @iampayalghosh , I am Rajshri Deshpande. I am not writing this because I worked with @anuragkashyap72 in 2 projects. But I am writing this so that I can listen to your voice.
2- Payal,apart from an actor I have been working for past 8 years in rural areas of India where I worked closely with women who survived trafficking, abuse, violence & suppression. We all know that MeToo started across the globe to give voice to each of us from different backgrounds
3-I think we need such movements for each suppressed voice in the world. If Anurag has done something wrong then we have a system to take action for it but if the acquisitions are false then MeToo mass movement will start crumbling and will lose its aim.
4- I fear that one false narrative can damage so many other voices who have suffered. Its been 10 years of my social work I heard more than 10,000 harassment cases. We all go through personal, public and now a days increasing digital trolling which is not less than harassment.
5- Dear Payal I seriously want to listen to you not because the whole world is judging your video but I want to know your journey. I really want to know why you did not hesitate to use other women’s name to support your claim? Don’t you think so it was derogatory and defamatory ?
6- I want to know how you cope up with this experience for 6 years and got strength to put it back and work. I know how difficult it is to go through harassment, it’s not easy to forget the extremely painful incident.
7- And I hope you will answer to these questions not immediately but maybe after few years when you will realise what had happened. I hope you will be able to reflect whether it was your truth, suffering or race to be part of current influential race.
8- Yes I am using word influence because this world is not great Payal.. we as women have to stay strong to fight our own battles .. there will be a time when we will be all alone .. then probably our old parents will look at us and we will have to answer them.
9- We will have answer ourselves. No money or fame in the world can save that feeling. Dear payal every other day I deal with harassment cases in my villages .. That’s the reason I am working on sensitisation, awareness & education there.
10-But giving voice to suppressed voices and then empower them comes on top of the list. Again I am saying I am not judging your action or your video I am just saying truth is stronger than anything.
11-Lot of times we think we are protected but false walls will never protect anyone Payal And the fight every other woman is going through will not be able to fight with those false walls.
Payal, I love my indian film industry. I know it has its flaws and its up to us to clean those flaws, but we need to ensure we do that conscientiously. May God give us strength to be truthful and strong.”
On Tuesday afternoon, actress Huma Qureshi shared a statement on Twitter expressing her anger at being dragged into this “mess” by Payal Ghosh.
Huma in her statement mentioned: ” 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 us refrain from this narrative.”
Meanwhile, Kashyap has received the support of several industry colleagues and his ex-wives Aarti Bajaj and Kalki Koechlin.
