Hyderabad:
Telugu choreographer Jani Master – who has worked on dance sequences in big-ticket films like ‘Baahubali‘ and ‘Pushpa: The Rise‘ – has been arrested after a 21-year-old employee accused him of sexual harassment over several years, including when she was a minor.
Master – suspended by the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce and a workers’ union – was taken into custody in Bengaluru and will be shifted to Hyderabad, NDTV was informed Thursday.
On Tuesday, actor Jhansi, the Chairperson of the Chamber’s panel to probe sexual harassment claims told NDTV the allegations against Master – rape and criminal intimidation – will attract charges under the stringent POCSO, or Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
The young woman has said she first met Master at an event in 2017.
Two years later he offered her a job as an assistant choreographer, which she accepted. The alleged sexual assaults took place subsequently, including once at a hotel Master and she, as well as two other male dancers, were staying in during a show in Mumbai.
The woman has also accused Master of threatening her with physical violence if she filed a complaint, and that he mentally harassed her during photoshoots and rehearsals.
Master reportedly even forced her to convert and ‘marry’ him, despite being married; on one occasion, she has said, both Master and his wife entered her room and slapped her.
Jani Master is also a member of actor-politician Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena, which is allied with the Telugu Desam Party of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. The Jana Sena is also part of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance at the centre.
The Jana Sena has ordered Master to stay away from its political events at this time. Amid rumours he had also been expelled, Master told local media this was not the case and that he had no issues complying with the party leadership’s instructions.
The allegation comes amid over churn in the Kerala movie business after the release of a partly redacted judicial committee report triggered an avalanche of sex assault allegations against senior actors and filmmakers. That list includes M Mukesh – an MLA with Kerala’s ruling CPIM.
Popular actors and directors like Nivin Pauly, Jayasurya, Mukesh, and Siddique all face multiple charges of assault and/or rape, and are being investigated by a special police team set up by the Kerala government. They have all denied the claims and labelled them “baseless”.
The allegations roiling the Kerala film industry, called Mollywood, include some shocking stories, like actor Sowmya saying she was “groomed as a sex slave” by a director from Tamil Nadu. They have also led to a fierce political fight between the CPIM and the opposition.
And it isn’t just the Kerala movie industry in the spotlight; the Congress has come under attack after one a state leaders, Simi Bell John, spoke of a ‘casting couch’ in the party’s state ranks. The claim has been denied and Ms John expelled for “colluding with political rivals”.
