Fox Star Studios drop Mukesh Chhabra from his directorial debut, Kizie Aur Manny, pending investigation

Mukesh Chhabra has been suspended from his directorial debut, Kizie Aur Manny, by Fox Star Studios in the wake of allegations of sexual harassment against him. The production house has suspended the director 'till the Internal Complaints Committee concludes its inquiry into the allegations against him'.

Chhabra was accused by two women, unnamed, in an interview with Mid-Day. The report quoted Chhabra as propositioning the actress to 'compromise, get physical with people in power.' However, the casting director had rejected the allegations denying 'any incident as alleged took place'.

Incidentally, the decision by Fox Star Studios comes a day after actor Sushant Singh Rajput was accused of similarly sexually harassing co-star Sanjana Sanghi on the sets of Kizie Aur Manny. The actor denied any such allegations, and put out a long post on Twitter detailing the 'extent' of interactions with Sanghi on his phone. 

" I feel sad to reveal personal information but it seems that there is no other way to state what was, in the midst of this curated and well timed smear campaign. From the first till the last day of the shoot, this is what happened on the Set with Sanjana. I feel sad to reveal personal information but it seems that there is no other way to state what was, in the midst of this curated and well timed smear campaign. From the first till the last day of the shoot, this is what happened on the Set with Sanjana," Rajput posted.

Chhabra also retweeted the post, siding with Sushant Singh Rajput saying 'I totally stand by @itsSSR - no such incident happened on the sets and let's not have a Twitter trial and make an innocent person suffer for somebody else's ulterior motives I had clarified this on twitter long back and I still maintain it .'

The film, Kizie Aur Manny, is based on the best selling novel, The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. The film is an official remake of the Hollywood film, based on the novel, directed by Josh Boone.

Chhabra is the latest to be named in the #MeToo complaints in the film industry after Vikas Bahl, Subhash Kapoor, Sajid Khan and Nana Patekar.