India's Me Too movement has arrived and well, has exposed many prominent names - be it actors, journalists, comedians or from other fields. From Alok Nath to Sajid Khan, no one could escape the wave of #MeToo. Women have got the courage to finally come out of their closets and share their ordeal in front of the whole country. They are now NOT hesitating in naming their sexual offenders. In the long list of the sexual offenders, the latest ones are the top casting agents Mukesh Chhabra and Vicky Sidana who have been accused of sexual harassment.

In four separate incidents, aspiring actors told their heart-wrenching stories to Mid-Day. One of the budding actors went for an audition in 2015 revealed that Mukesh Chhabra grabbed her hard and felt her up. She told the tabloid, "He asked me to enact a scene which had the hero and the heroine hugging each other. Under the pretext of showing me how the scene should be performed, he grabbed me hard and felt me up. I could feel his hand on my butt. I was shell-shocked and immediately withdrew. He realised [my trepidation] and started vehemently apologising. At one point, he said, I thought you were fine with it because other girls are." Post this, she moved away from the world of the glamour and chose engineering as he career. Advertisement

One more artiste shared that she was asked to compromise by Mukesh over a phone conversation. In the recording, Mukesh can be heard saying, "You'll have to compromise, get physical with people in power. I am not promising that people ready to compromise get selected. Everyone is ready to compromise. It's no big deal. We can meet at a hotel tonight."

Talking of Vicky Sidana, one of the aspiring shared a horrific incident where the casting agent groped her sister. "Vicky was giving a gyaan session about how I won't get offers if I don't offer sex. When I stepped out for a photoshoot, he got chatting with my sister. He then pushed her on the couch and squeezed her breast, all the while muttering, 'Actress kyun nahin ban jati.' When I heard about it, I swore I would never see his face again," she shared her ordeal. Advertisement

Another actress recounted her story and said Vicky invited her over to his house to discuss a project and sexually harassed her. "The role in question needed me to have a pixie cut. He pulled my hair away from my face to see how I would look in short hair. Then, he grabbed me from the side and tried to hug me. I could feel his d*** hard against my thigh. I somehow managed to run out," she shared.

Mukesh, however, denied all the allegations and told the tabloid, "It has been years of hard work and I have been around in the industry. It is unfortunate that people are resorting to name calling and making wild allegations. Hard work and sweat cannot be erased by making false accusations. I deny any such incident took place. If anyone is indulging in rumour mongering and mischievous slandering, I will take every possible legal action to protect my reputation." Sidana said, "I have never called anyone home. If I have, my wife would have been there. In any case, if someone is not naming themselves, how do I prove myself innocent? One has to understand, that as casting agents, we suffer the wrath of those we don't cast. They harbour ill feelings towards us and this is an attempt to malign me. I have been working since nine years and have a certain reputation. Casting directors are harassed by budding actors; they send objectionable pictures and messages." Advertisement

We also tried out to reach to Mukesh and Vicky but we haven't got any response yet.

