Speaking after 20 years doesn't mean claims are questionable: Mahesh Bhatt on Vinta Nanda's claims

Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt said Tuesday that writer-director Vinta Nanda's allegations of rape and sexual harassment against Alok Nath should not be viewed as "questionable" even though she decided to raise her voice after almost two decades.

The 70-year-old filmmaker, who called Nanda a "crusader of causes" and a friend, said he wants to know what stopped the "Tara" writer from calling out Nath when the incident happened.

"I was told by some of my friends from Mumbai that one of my colleagues, Vinta Nanda has gone... But she has never mentioned about this for years. But why did she not mention? because was she also... Though she has been a crusader for causes and an activist. She has fought with me on various platforms and she has worked with me.

"One of my colleagues asked, 'Why was she quiet? Why didn't she speak for so many years?' Which doesn't mean why is she is speaking now? Just because you're speaking after 20 years doesn't mean your claims are questionable. But it's very important that a person who is shrill about exhaling all the other wrongs that are happening and chooses to keep this... You ask what was it that stopped you from doing it. Not that I'm dismissing that as a non-issue, I'm just wanting to know," Bhatt told PTI here.

He said one of his friends called Nanda to ask her why she did not share the incident with him, to which she replied, "'I didn't do it because I found that you were unapproachable because he is much higher in the hierarchy'," Bhatt recalled.

"That is her explanation, I'd like to talk to her about it," he added.

The filmmaker said he got to know about Nanda's claims through wife Soni Razdan's tweet.

"I tried to reach out to her. But understandably she's being sought after today".

Nanda alleged that Nath sexually assaulted her on more than one occasion after he was fired from the 1993 show "Tara" for misbehaving with its lead actor, Navneet Nishan.