Ratan Rajput, who plays the lead role in Santoshi Maa, was allegedly molested on the sets of the show by a lightman. According to sources, the actress complained about the issue to the production house, but initially they didn’t take any action against the person. But after Ratan refused to report to the sets for the shoot, the channel had to intervene and the lightman was sacked.While the producers have been denying the incident, Ratan told us, “I don’t want to talk much about it. But then again I don’t want to stay quiet about it.There is no smoke without fire.I am strong enough to handle such things and in case I feel that I require media’s help, I will call them. I really don’t know who leaked this news. I haven’t spoken to anyone about this. I don’t want this to seem as if I am seeking some publicity.”
We asked Ratan whether she has faced any such incident on the sets of any of her previous shows and she said, “I have never faced such a thing in the industry before. Being a girl, I have faced such issues on the road and kai baar jootechappal khole hain. Any girl would get upset by such things. But main upset hoke ghar nahi baithungi. I know mujhe uske saath kya decision lena tha aur kya karna tha. I wanted it to look like an example ki agar 75 logon ki unit hai, toh baaki ke logon ko pata hona chahiye ki unke saath kya hoga agar unhone aisa kiya.”
She added, “Production house ne norm ke tahat kiya jo unhe karna chahiye tha. They didn’t go out of the way but they did what was required. Whatever stand I had to take, I took it. When such an incident happens, you think, ‘How could this happen to me?’ Lekin theek hai, main usse bahar nikal chuki hoon. Maine ussi samay bola ki main shoot nahi karungi. Uss din maine shoot nahi kiya. I returned to shoot only after things were sorted.”
Ratan has done theatre in Delhi for two years and she said that she always used to speak up whenever someone misbehaved with her, “Dilli mein bahut kaand huye hain. Main police station tak logon ko lekar gayi hoon. I have never been that girl who stays quiet and acts like a bechaari. Maine ladkon ko Dilli mein peeta bhi hai, pitwaya bhi hai,” she told us.
