After being pulled up for inaction over the complaints of sexual misconduct against Vikas Bahl, his former partner at Phantom Films, Anurag Kashyap has now stepped down as board member of the Mumbai Academy of Moving Images (MAMI) that organises the annual Mumbai Film Festival. The filmmaker has been a board member of the academy since its inception in 1997.
Tweeting his decision, Kashyap wrote that he was stepping down from the position "in light of recent events" till the "shadow of doubt of our alleged complicitness in silence and not doing anything about it, is cleared."
The Mumbai Film Festival is set to begin on 25 October. MAMI had recently cancelled its press show in which Kashyap was to speak on the opening of the festival. MAMI has also dropped All India Bakchod's (AIB) upcoming film, Chintu Ka Birthday, and Rajat Kapoor's Kadakh. AIB member Utsav Chakraborty and Rajat Kapoor have both been accused of sexual misconduct by various women.