Swastika Mukherjee, the talented Bengali actress, has made some shocking accusations against her co-producer Sandeep Sarkar. Ahead of the release of their upcoming Bengali film, Shibpur, the actor claims that she received threatening emails from Sandeep and his associates, asking her to cooperate with them. Swastika has also alleged that they have her morphed nude pictures, which they threatened to leak on pornography websites. The actor has filed a complaint with Kolkata’s Golf Green Police Station and has sought help from the Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA).
Shibpur is a political thriller, directed by Arindam Bhattacharya and featuring a star-studded cast, including Parambrata Chatterjee, Rajatava Dutta, Mamata Shankar, Kharaj Mukhopadhyay, Susmita Mukherjee, and a few more in key roles. Speaking about the harassment she faced, Swastika told OTT play, “It all started pretty randomly. During the entire course of shooting and dubbing, I have never been introduced to Sandeep Sarkar. It was another co-producer, Ajanta Sinha Roy, who communicated with us. Suddenly, Sandeep Sarkar started sending me threatening emails.”
The actress has shared that Sandeep claimed to be an American citizen and threatened to get in touch with the US Consulate if she did not cooperate with him. She has also alleged that Sandeep threatened to drag her to the Police Commissioner and the Chief Minister. The actress has stated that she has no idea what this ‘cooperation’ means and that she has shot the film and dubbed it. Swastika also mentioned that she never intended not to participate in promotional activities. Initially, the film was scheduled to release in March, and she emailed her available dates to them. However, there was no response from their side, and later, they shifted the release without informing her. The actress got to know about it from the director and emailed him her available dates. But by then, he was supposed to helm the promotional activities. The actress has alleged that there were no marketing or PR plans that she received. In fact, when they released the poster, she shared it on her social media.
Swastika’s manager also received a threatening email from a person named Ravish Sharma, who claimed to be a friend of Sandeep Sarkar. The actor added, “He (Ravish Sharma) further claimed that he was a ‘brilliant’ computer hacker. He said that he would ‘morph’ my pictures and send them to pornography websites. Along with the email, he sent two of my images that are morphed and nude. This amounted to sexual harassment. Sandeep Sarkar admitted that they are acquaintances.”
The Dil Bechara actor has stated that she did her job diligently while shooting and went on time, doing everything in her control to portray the character truthfully. She mentioned that Sandeep Sarkar is claiming that she has extorted money, but she did not get paid anything extra beyond what was there in the contract. Swastika reasoned why she maintained silence initially as it all began in March. She said she kept quiet because she wanted the release of Shibpur to be smooth, but it does not seem to end. The actress has gone to the authorities immediately after receiving the emails.
Swastika was last seen in Qala alongside Tripti Dimri and Babil Khan. Her next Bengali film, Shibpur, which was initially slated for a release in March, will release on May 5.
