Yash Raj Caught On The Wrong Foot In The MeToo Movement

The allegation of  sexual harassment against Yash Raj  Films’ talent and business  head   Ashish Patil, vehemently  denied by Patil, could cause the otherwise-spotless  production company a  great deal of embarrassment.

I spoke to an actor who  is very closely associated with Aditya Chopra and Yash Raj Films, and  he felt the  charge against Patil would seriously  embarrass Adi Chopra.

“Adi is  a complete recluse, a zero-controversy  figure. For an employee of his production house to be under  scrutiny is inexcusable for him,” says the  actor.

Sources say Patil is likely to resign. However this being the  first major allegation against an employee at Yash Raj, the think tank at  the production  house has begun to work overtime.

There may be  other potential targets at Yash Raj.

In the meanwhile the head honcho of   another  leading production house which has a reputation for  churning out uninterrupted hits, finds himself in a quandary as an actor from his underproduction franchise  film has been accused of sexual harassment and  the  film’s director  is known to be  a notorious  harasser.

“I want to take pre-emptive action . But tell me , what action  can I take ?Sacking the offenders from an underproduction project would mean heavy losses for all the cast and crew. Why  should they pay a  price for crimes they haven’t committed?”