Javed Akhtar claims Rajkumar Hirani to be among 'most decent' people in his book
Rajkumar Hirani is among the most decent people in the Hindi film industry, veteran writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar has said in support of the filmmaker, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by a woman. "I had come to the film industry in 1965. After so many years, if I am asked who are the most decent people you met in this industry over almost 5 decades, perhaps the first name that will come to my mind is Raju Hirani. G.B Shaw has said: 'It is too dangerous to be too good'," Akhtar tweeted on Wednesday.
According to a HuffPost India article on Sunday, a woman "assistant" to Hirani claimed the filmmaker sexually abused her on more than one occasion over a six-month period between March and September 2018 during the making of "Sanju". The 56-year-old filmmaker has denied the allegation.
Akhtar is not the first person who has come out in support of Hirani, who has helmed films like the "Munna Bhai" franchise, "3 Idiots" and "Sanju". Sharman Joshi, Dia Mirza and Arshad Warsi have stood by him, and said it is wrong to jump to conclusions and to suddenly start looking at a person differently.
Sharman, whose portrayal of Raju Rastogi in Hirani's blockbuster "3 idiots" became immensely popular, hoped the phase the director is going through currently will pass.
Dia Mirza said, "I am deeply distressed by this news. As someone who has known and respects Raju Sir for 15 years I can only hope that a due official enquiry is conducted. He is one of the most decent human beings I have ever worked with and I think it would be grossly unjust on my part to speak on this as I do not know the details."
(With IANS inputs)
