Bollywood / Salman & family sabotaged my films, the bullying led to my divorce: Dabangg maker

Bollywood Desk: Abhinav Singh Kashyap recently took to Facebook to reveal that Arbaaz Khan and family sabotaged his career after 2010 film Dabangg. The filmmaker also said the sustained gaslighting and bullying destroyed his mental health.

In a long social media post, Kashyap wrote, “The reason I moved out of making Dabangg 2 ten years ago is because Arbaaz Khan, in collusion with Sohail Khan and family, was trying to take control of my career by bullying me. Arbaaz Khan sabotaged my second project with Shree Ashtavinayak Films that I was signed up with by personally calling their head Mr. Raj Mehta and threatening him with dire consequences if they made a film with me. I had to return the signing money to Shree Ashtavinayak films and moved to Viacom Pictures. They did the same thing.”

“Only this time the sabotager was Sohail Khan and he intimidated the then Viacom CEO Vikram Malhotra. My project was sabotaged and I was made to return my signing fee of Rupees 7 Crores plus interest of Ninety odd lacs. It’s only then that Reliance Entertainment came to my rescue and we forged an enduring partnership for my film Besharam,” Abhinav Singh Kashyap added.

The filmmaker further mentioned, “All my projects and creative endeavours have been sabotaged and I have been repeatedly threatened with life and rape threats given to/for the female members of my family. The sustained gaslighting and bullying destroyed my mental health and that of my family and led to my divorce and breaking up of my family in 2017.”

Abhinav Singh Kashyap, in his post, said he won’t give up, “I refuse to cow down and will fight on till I see the end of either them or me. Enough tolerance. It’s time to fight back.”

Kashyap’s note comes after actor Sushant Singh Rajput killed himself on Sunday. The filmmaker appealed to the government to have a detailed investigation around his death.

Raising fingers on the talent management agencies who spot actors and introduce them to Bollywood celebrities promising a bright future in the film industry, Kashyap wrote, “The death of Sushant Singh Rajput brings under scanner the role YRF talent Management Agency might have played in pushing him towards his suicide but that is for the authorities to investigate. These people don’t make careers. They ruin your career and life. Having suffered personally for a decade, I can confidently say every Talent Manager and all Talent Management Agencies of Bollywood are a potential death Trap for Artists. They are all basically white collared Dalaals and everyone is involved. They all have an unspoken code of conduct they adhere to.”

He continued, “First the talent scout(Casting Directors, etc.) working on a cut/commission spots a needy wild talent from out of Mumbai with little connections or property. The talent is then lured with free invites to Bollywood parties and random Restaurant launches on the pretext of introducing them to celebrities. The Blinding glamour of celebs and lure of easy money is unleashed on the unsuspecting. Mind you they are all ignored and treated very badly at these parties so they feel demoralized and their self-confidence breaks. Once the confidence is broken, the scouts offer them a multi-year exclusivity contracts and pressure them to sign-up for it by promising to protect them from predators or offering a pittance. Mind you, breaking these legal contracts means heavy penalties for these budding talents but the scout makes sure through bullying and coercion that there is very little option for the talent but to sign up.”