Sony Television has asked Anu Malik to step down from Indian Idol following the #MeToo movement where women accused him of sexual harassment. The decision to remove the judge Malik from Indian Idol 10 was taken after an assistant producer on Indian Idol season 5 has revealed that the higher authorities were well aware of Anu Malik’s behaviour.
The 30-year-old woman, Danica D’Souza revealed in an interview with Mid-Day, where she said,
“Women on the team sympathised but quickly swept the incidents under the rug. In closed circles, we’d talk about Anu being a tharki. When this colleague reported the incident to seniors in the production house, some of the women, they turned a blind eye. They knew he abused power but nothing came of it. In fact, they told us all to take precaution by not meeting him alone. He was often extra-friendly on set with women crew members, casually putting his hand around them, or pulling them towards him.”
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Danica herself has been a victim of Malik’s misconduct and has an unpleasant experience with him at his residence when she went there for costume fitting session once. She informed that she went there with a male staffer. Recalling that she said,
“His wife and daughter were present, too. While he didn’t try to act smart that day, he would often refer to me as ‘darling’, ‘baby’ and ‘sweety’, which I was uncomfortable with.”
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“Everyone including Sony TV well aware of his behaviour with women. I don’t know why they are still quiet,” said Danica.
