Sonu Nigam's open letter to Subhash K. Jha
alexaha:
DNA India has printed Sonu's letter as well, however not as an "open" letter. Will hardly matter, now that everyone knows who "Mr.X" is anyway. I don't know why Sonu chose to take this route, but it's quite ironic (and I bet intendedly so) he uses the format Mr. Jha himself is so fond of - open letters. I still remember his tasteless letter to Saif Ali Khan. There was another one, forgot the recipient.
I have no idea what this will do SKJ's career. As long as Sonu doesn't come around with any real evidence regarding actual sexual harrassment I doubt he will have to go. It would not be a great loss if he had to go as his writing is plain bad, but I wonder if they'd put someone more able in his place since his style of "criticism " seemed to work for the papers and sites he works for.
Sonu stalked by a gay scribe!
Sonu Nigam
Sunday, July 15, 2007 11:42 IST
For a long time I’ve been reading, at the insistence of my fans and well wishers, various articles humiliating me and my work written by this film journalist — let’s call him Mr X.
All I want to say is I am sure he is a great asset to your reputed paper and very well known to his fraternity, but I’d like to put to your notice that Mr X is the same guy who has always had great words of praise for me once upon the time (Please surf the net and read his review of my movie ‘Love In Nepal’ three years ago). (.......)
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1110048
wannabe:
Quote from: tabula rasa on July 15, 2007, 09:52:16 PM
And will this have a backlash? Vivek Oberoi went downhill after the press conference, though he says people who abused him publicly actually agreed with him in private, its just that there's an unspoken code about not going to the press with any 'inside matter' unless its agreed on and necessary. I presume there's such a code with regards to something like sexual harrasment as well?
I am always puzzled by this assumption that Vivek's career was affected by the press conference. After the press conference he got a lot of positive press coverage for his efforts in the tsunami relief, his romance with Aishwarya was pumped up by everyone, including Aishwarya herself, with his accompanying her to Cannes, etc., and after it he acted in films from two big powerhouse production companies -- Kisna and Kaal. Kisna didn't do as well as expected at the box office, but I don't remember any pans for Vivek's acting. I don't know about Kaal -- some reports have it being a hit in India, though nobody here liked it. The thing, though, is, that while someone like John Abraham (who was a relative newcomer at the time, with not such a big image as Vivek) was able to parlay that role and those contacts into bigger and better roles in Yashraj, Vivek wasn't able to. Why not? Well, I don't know, of course, but there are many reports of Vivek's arrogance on the sets, and his assumption that he was an expert in acting and filmmaking, and offering advice to people with a lot more experience and acclaim than he had. This was supposed to be the reason why Rani became annoyed with him during Saathiya (the quote reported in our old forum was of her saying to him, "I have acted wtih Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, and Shahrukh Khan -- who are you?"). So it is clear to me that Vivek did get several chances with the biggies (remember Saathiya was a YRF film, and he also worked with Mani Ratnam in Yuva), but, for whatever reason, couldn't make them stick.
As for the press conference itself, people seem to forget that it was not merely his claiming that Salman had threatened him, but that he also accused Salman of sexually exploiting actresses he had worked with, specifically naming Dia Mirza and Rani Mukherji, and claiming that he was a self-appointed savior to such helpless women. Both Rani and Dia denied that they had ever had an affair with Salman, and I have read some reports that this was the real reason for the cooling of the friendship between Rani and Aishwarya, that Aishwarya expected Rani to "support" her and go along with the story out of friendship for her. But the bottom line is, it was still accusations about behavior in personal life, not professional (except for alleged affairs). So the comparison to Sonu's charges doesn't hold, as Sonu's charges all relate to the discharge of Jha's professional duties, as Dil Bert has noted. The charges from Shilpa's publicist are again all about professional conduct. So I doubt that Sonu will suffer any backlash. Besides, I doubt that he would take the step of sending this letter to all publications without first having consulted some of his friends in the media as to the likely fallout as well.
wannabe:
About the backlash to Sonu Nigam, I am wondering now if he may face some. The DNA article is playing up the homosexual angle, and I have now read posts on other forums that both Sonu and Jha are on TV right now, each defending his position, and one post talked of Jha being interviewed over the phone and being practically in tears. Well, that's an understandable reaction if the media are playing up the gay angle -- which they very well may, because that is more sensationalistic than to report on the actual complaint and request by both Sonu and that publicist guy, namely, that the facts should be verified before an article is published. So, there may be a backlash for talking about Jha's personal matters (his sexuality), either because it is a violation of his privacy, or because it draws unnecessary attention to homosexual harassment that takes place in the industry. It is true that Shobha De wrote a column about this at the time of the Shakti Kapoor casting couch scandal, but maybe having it confirmed by one of the industry is considered to be too much.
mrs. k:
So what is Jha saying to defend himself? As for Sonu playing down the harrassement angle I don't know how he really could because that is what he seems to imply was Jha's motivation in writing those negative articles. You think that the powers and shakers will hold something against Sonu for bringing to light this kind of behavior? I agree that it's not exactly great publicity for the film industry.
LolaRuns:
From Zee News:
Quote
Sonu Nigam alleges sexual harassment by senior journalist
New Delhi, July 16: In an exclusive interview with Zee News, Sonu Nigam dramatically spilled the can of dirty worms of our entertainment fraternity that is well known for it’s homosexual connections.
Fed up with continuous lewd calls and mobile text messages, Nigam came in front of the television cameras and named a renowned senior entertainment journalist, Subhash K Jha, who is a well-known figure in the Bollywood circle.
Sonu Nigam said, “He used to harass me with his homosexual desires to an extent that my family was affected. We all know that the film industry consists of many gays and homosexuals. Even I have many gay friends but they have never tried to come close to me because they know that I am not interested in it. But in this case, he used to send me weird messages and talk nonsense on the phone.”
Elaborating about an incident that took place when Nigam was a part of the Indian Idol judge panel, he said, “He was calling Farah Khan and Anu Malik during an Indian Idol show. I was a little busy so I didn’t receive his call. Later, Jha called me up again and said that he loved me a lot, so I should pick up his call.”
Talking about the usual film industry struggle, Sonu accepted that many young actors and musicians are asked to go through different favours. He said, “During my struggle days, I used to meet many song composers but luckily nothing like this happened with me. Young actors and models do go through all these favours.”
Speaking about a particular incident when Jha proposed him, Nigam said, “In 2001, he proposed me and said that he loves me. He even misbehaved with me after getting drunk but later apologised in the morning. I even told him that you are Lataji’s friend and elder to me so please don’t talk such things with me as I’m not gay. But he still continued harassing me with his calls.”
Nigam blasted in front of the media today and said, “I’m not a fool that I don’t understand his intentions. I’m not a villager that I don’t know whatever is happening. I even told him about my girlfriends but slowly and slowly when he did not get any positive response from my end, he started criticising me in his articles and his feelings got bitter towards me.”
When asked about his last text message, Sonu said, “He messaged me 3 months back and stated that he missed me. He also wrote that he was impressed with my audacity on which I asked him to meet me if he wants to see my audacity. The way he wrote was sexual harassment. People in our country should know that such things also happen here. A man can also bother another man like this. I just want him to stop bothering me. He is gay, I have no problems, it’s his life but I’m not like him and he should stay away from me.”
Sonu’s anger was visible as he said, “I started avoiding his calls because I was troubled by him. On top of that he wrote an article against me that was titled, ‘The King of Ego’. I have many journalist friends and they have all have been nice people. On the one hand today’s journalists are slogging hard and doing an amazing job for the country and on the other hand, people like Jha are tarnishing journalism. Jha is the same person who praised me after the release of my film “Love in Nepal” but after getting no response from me, he started criticising me. He always gets drunk with everyone and misbehaves in the night and then calls up in the morning to apologise.”
Sonu Nigam’s allegations against a senior entertainment journalist are one of the few man-to-man celebrity sexual harassment cases that have hit the limelight in India. Homosexuality is prevalent in the glamour world but such a serious allegation against a known figure speaks volumes about ‘favours’ in the glamour world. The Casting Couch Syndrome can also victimise men and not women alone.
http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?rep=2&aid=383043&sid=ENT&ssid=2
Does anybody have some links to these Subhash K. Jha's "Worst Of"?
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