MUMBAI: On a day CINTAA (Cine and TV Artistes' Association) announced a committee to probe allegations of sexual harassment, a young singer from a prominent family of musicians spoke up against a top music director.
Shweta Pandit, niece of Sulakshana and Vijayeta Pandit and Jatin-Lalit, called out composer
Anu Malik for misbehaving with her in 2001 when she was 15 years old. She described him as a pedophile and said the episode made her consider leaving the industry.
Shweta said Malik's manager asked her to come to the studio for audition. The composer asked her to wait in a small cabin. She wrote, "It was just him and me there. He asked me to sing without any music as he wanted to hear my voice. He said, I will give you this song with Sunidhi and Shaan but first give me a kiss now.' He then smiled, what I'd recall the most evil grin I've seen. I went numb. I was only 15 years old then, still in school. It felt like someone had just stabbed me in my stomach. I referred to this man as 'Anu Uncle,' he knew my entire family for decades and knew us as a respected gharana of musicians. He addressed my father as 'Mandheer bhai.' And he does this to his bhai's daughter?"
Shweta said the incident left her depressed for months. "I could have left the industry but I rethought. Why should I leave my greatest passion for a paedophile like him?" she wrote. Anu Malik told PTI, "No comments. This is ridiculous. I don't want to talk about it. Today anyone says anything."
CINTAA meanwhile announced the setting up of a committee to tackle sexual harassment along Vishaka guidelines. Lawyer Vrinda Grover, actors Swara Bhasker,
Raveena Tandon and Renuka Shahane, filmmaker Amol Gupte and journalist Bharati Dubey will be part of the committee. Fifty percent will be women.
But CINTAA expressed helplessness at taking up cases that are under legal process, like that of
Alok Nath.