#MeToo: Arshad Warsi on front to support Hirani

After a #MeToo story emerged against the top Bollywood filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani, the Circuit of Munna Bhai series, supporting actor Arshad Warsi has come up on front to support the alleged director on sexual abuse. The actor says the filmmaker has always been faultless.

Asked about a woman’s allegation that Hirani sexually assaulted her during the shoot of ‘Sanju’, Warsi said: “For me, to pass any sort of judgement or come to a conclusion is absolutely wrong because I don’t know exactly about the case. I don’t know how much truth is there or how credible this accusation is. Has the proper investigation been done? I don’t know about all that.

“I personally don’t like to jump to conclusions and pass my judgement and suddenly start looking at a person differently. I cannot do that, it’s not right to do that. What I feel about Raju? I think he is a fabulous gentleman. He is a lovely guy. My association with him is so long, and I have never seen one wrong thing about him.”

Warsi, who has worked with the director in films such as ‘Lage Raho Munna Bhai’, said he has never seen Hirani behave inappropriately.

“I have never seen him behaving badly or doing anything incorrect. So, suddenly hearing this, you think, ‘How is this possible?’. I cannot say anything till it is all 100 per cent there… One cannot jump to a conclusion. It is not fair,” added the actor, who is promoting his forthcoming release ‘Fraud Saiyyan’.

According to a HuffPost India article on Sunday, a woman claimed that Hirani sexually abused her on more than one occasion over a six-month period between March and September 2018. The 56-year-old filmmaker has denied the allegation.