Siddharth Shukla has been in the news for all the wrong reasons for some time now, from being rude to his housemates on Bigg Boss 13 to getting into shouting matches with his former co-star Rashami Desai. Recently, Rashami also accused him of touching her inappropriately, and now another one of his former co-stars, Sheetal Khandal, has made some serious allegations against him.
In an exclusive with a leading daily, Sheetal, who worked with Siddharth in Balika Vadhu, claimed that he used to make vulgar jokes, touched her inappropriately and generally made her uncomfortable on the sets of the show.
Talking about watching Siddharth defend Arti Singh on a recent episode of Bigg Boss, Sheetal said, “I was laughing recently when I saw him taking a stand for Arti Singh on Bigg Boss 13 as in real life the kind of language he has used with me and comments that he has made for me are nothing compared to what Siddhartha Dey has said for Arti. He used to pass vulgar and double meaning jokes on me. He also passed comments which I can’t even share with you. I had complained about him to one of the creative producers of the show after which he created a huge ruckus on the sets. When he arrived the next day on the sets he was yelling at the top of his voice against me. From body-shaming to passing derogatory comments, he has done everything and on Bigg Boss 13 he is trying to project himself as one mahaan (great) person.”
Sheetal added, “There were times when he would get over-friendly and touch me in an inappropriate manner. Once we were shooting a master shot where he had to touch my feet and the way he touched me, I felt disgusted. I got scolded as the shot did not come across as it was needed and I couldn’t share with anyone why I behaved in such a way. He used to keep his hands on my shoulders even though we did not share that kind of rapport with each other. It was my first show so, initially, I did not complain, but later when things started getting out of hand, I had to complain against him.”
From everything Sheetal shared in her interview, it seems like Siddharth is known to throw his weight around and be generally badly-behaved and arrogant. “I am not surprised with Siddharth Shukla’s behaviour. I have personally seen and I know what kind of person he is. People who have worked with him are aware of how he throws his weight around. When I worked with him on Balika Vadhu, he was known for throwing tantrums. He used to arrive on sets late, make us wait for him to begin the shoot. The production house had a difficult time working with him.”
Even on Bigg Boss 13, Siddharth’s temper tantrums have proven to be quite problematic. “He gets angry at the drop of a hat. His temper flares up in no time and he is arrogant, there is no denying. And whenever he created a scene on the sets, none of the senior actors revolted against it. I wish someone had complained or told him that he was doing wrong. He has given a tough time to everyone who worked with him during Balika Vadhu but as he was the channel’s recommendation, nobody had the guts to go against him,” added Sheetal.
Sheetal concluded the interview by pointing out that Siddharth is trying to play it smart on the show. “I played that BB episode again and again to watch what went wrong between Arti Singh and Siddhartha Dey. I realised that it was a very well thought move by Siddharth as when the incident happened, he was standing right there but he did not respond then, and later, created such a huge uproar. If you hear something offensive you react immediately and don’t wait for a moment to show your anger,” she said.
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