'Race' actors Saif Ali Khan, Saqib Saleem share their #MeToo stories

Actor Saif Ali Khan recently shared his #MeToo story saying that he was harassed 25 years ago. After him, another ‘Race’ actor Saqib Saleem has revealed he was sexually harassed at the start of his career.

While a lot of female celebrities have been sharing their harrowing experiences in Indian film industry, B-Town actors have also started sharing their harassment stories.

Saqib, who was last seen in ‘Race 3’, has opened up about the sexual harassment he faced. Talking to Hindustan Times, the 30-year-old recalled the incident which took place at the early stage of his career.

“I don’t want to take names, but when I started out as an actor I was only 21 years old. There was a man who tried to assault me. He tried to put his hand in my pants,” he said. When this incident happened, Saqib whacked the person and told him to mind his own business. He added, “I was 21, and of course, it scared me, but I moved on. I’m sure that everyone’s different, and an incident such as this must affect different people differently,” he said.

Earlier, Saif also shared his experience and said, “I have also been harassed in my career, not sexually, but I have been harassed 25 years ago and I am still angry about it,” he told PTI. “Most people don’t understand other people. It is very difficult to understand other people’s pain. I don’t want to talk about it because I am not important today. Even when I think about what happened with me I still get angry. Today, we have to look after women,” he added.

Among the many B-Town bigwigs, Sajid Khan is the latest who has been accused of sexual misconduct by three female actors and a journalist. Saif has worked with Sajid in ‘Humshakals’. Speaking about the accusations on him, Saif said, “I don’t remember anything like this happening genuinely because if it would have happened I would not have been comfortable in that environment or allowed it to happen in front of me. I would hate an atmosphere where women are being looked down upon or mistreated in any way”.

After all the fuss, B-Town biggies Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn have also condemned the directors for the #MeToo accounts against them, and said they will not work with any accused offenders.