Bollywood comedian and director Sajid Khan started his career as a television artiste, acting in the Doordarshan show Main Bhi Detective. He hosted the musical countdown show Ikke Pe Ikka in 1996, which was featured in the Limca Book of World Records.
Born on November 23, 1971, in Mumbai, Khan is the brother of famous choreographer and director Farah Khan and cousin of Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar. He made his acting debut in films with “Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kate”. He then shifted to directing films, his first being “Darna Zaroori Hai”.
Khan later got mired in controversy and in 2018, as many as nine Indian actresses and models accused him of sexual harassment and misconduct in the #MeToo movement.
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Here is a look at some of the top controversies Sajid Khan was involved in.
MeToo movement
A number of women from the industry named Sajid Khan in the #MeToo movement, levelling several sexual assault allegations against him. Saloni Chopra, Rachel White, Mandana Karimi and Sherlyn Chopra were some of the people who accused Khan of misconduct. The sexual assault allegations against him included lewd comments, bizarre questions, that he watched porn in front of women, flashed his private parts at parties, and also asked woman actors to send him their nude pictures for casting.
Industry body Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) imposed a ban on Khan for his alleged misconduct, following which he was removed from the Housefull film franchise in 2018.
Argument with Ashutosh Gowarikar
In 2009, Ashutosh Gowariker was upset with Sajid Khan’s demeanour while hosting the Screen Awards 2009. Gowariker received the Best Film Award for his film “Jodha Akbar” at the award ceremony. While receiving the award, the director said he did not like the way his film was ridiculed at the award show by Khan. It is believed Gowariker and Khan did not speak for some time but later cleared the misunderstandings.
Bigg Boss
Earlier this year, there was a huge uproar on the internet after it was announced that the filmmaker would participate in the reality show Bigg Boss. Soon after his entry into Bigg Boss, many people called out the channel on social media for giving him this opportunity. Singer Sona Mohapatra objected to Khan’s appearance on Bigg Boss 16 as a contestant by sharing a post by anchor Janice Sequeira on the various sexual assault allegations against the filmmaker.
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
