Swastika Mukherjee on Shibpur trailer launch: Sexual harassment is not a joke and there is no forgiveness for it

The trailer of Arindam Bhattacharya’s political thriller Shibpur was dropped on Tuesday. The film features Swastika Mukherjee, Parambrata Chatterjee, Rajatava Dutta, Kharaj Mukherjee, and others. The making of the film was marred with controversies after the lead actress of the film Swastika brought allegations of sexual harassment against one of the co-producers, Sandeep Sarkar of Indo-Americana Production, and his friend.  

Swastika was absent on the day of the trailer release. She is currently shooting in Mumbai. However, she took to her social media and stated that while she owns the film she will never forgive the perpetrators. “To all my journalist friends who have been calling and msging me for the past few days to ask whether I will be attending the trailer launch of my film #Shibpur, well I will not. I am not in Kolkata but even if I was in the city I would not have attended. Anyone telling you otherwise is lying. Sexual harassment is not a joke and there is no forgiveness for it. And neither is there any redemption. The producers may think all is chill and cool but IT IS NOT. IT WILL NEVER BE. But #Shibpur is my film and I will definitely share the trailer with my followers and fans,” she wrote.  

Also read: Shibpur controversy: Swastika Mukherjee opens up about harassment by co-producer | Exclusive 

In her complaint at Golf Green Police Station, Swastika stated that the said producer and his friend – both from the US – threatened her through emails and then morphed her images to make them nude and threatened to share the photos on pornography websites. The actress also complained to Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA), along with scanned copies of threat mails. As a result, the name of Sandeep Sarkar was removed from the credit list.