Bengali film actor lodges police complaint against co-producer for sending threat mails

PTI, Apr 6, 2023, 8:18 AM IST

Popular Bengali film actor Swastika Mukherjee has lodged a complaint with the police against the co-producer of her upcoming film ‘Shibpur’ and his associates for allegedly sending her threat mails, a police official said on Wednesday.

The co-producer and his associates in their alleged ”threat mails” reportedly asked her to ”cooperate” with them, otherwise her morphed ”nude pictures” will be leaked to pornography websites, he said quoting the complaint.

The complaint was filed at the Golf Green police station in Kolkata.

In a statement later, Swastika alleged that one of the partners of the production house has been threatening her and her manager for the past month, with ”derogatory and sexually harassing mails” along with death threats, accusing her of not participating in the marketing and promotions of the film.

“I have been paid only what is under the contract. Me or my manager have not been informed about any marketing plan or provided with any promotional assets till date,” she said in the statement.

Swastika claimed the accused person admitted in the emails that he has shared her email ids with his associates, colleagues and friends, who in turn had sent sexually harassing emails “with my nude images”, and threatened to hack her social media accounts and upload all such photos on them and porn sites.

”The film was shot in August/September 2022. I have worked to the best of my ability and I have been paid as per the contract between me and the producer signed on July 8, 2022. Not a single payment made by the production house is outside the contract,” she said claiming that along with her, the director is also being constantly ”maligned and threatened”.

The actor also lodged a complaint with East India Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA) and the Artists’ Forum. Stating that she had been working in the film industry for 23 years, Mukherjee said ”No one ever has disrespected me and put my reputation and goodwill at stake to this extent.” An officer of Golf Green Police Station said they are looking into the matter.

The police are trying to get in touch with the accused co-producer, who is currently based in the United States, he added.

The co-producer named by Swastika did not say anything on the issue on his Facebook page but shared many promotional posts about the film.