Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khatter, and Vishal Jethwa’s Homebound received a terrific response at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, this month. However, days after the festival Neeraj Ghaywan’s film has been trending again. As per the reports, independent filmmaker Abhinav Singh has placed accusations on Homebound cinematographer Pratik Shah of ‘being emotionally abusive and highly manipulative.’

Controversy involving Abhinav Singh and Pratik Shah

Abhinav Singh shared on Instagram stories about a “predator” in the showbiz. He mentioned that women often avoid speaking up against the evil due to “generational, cultural, deeply ingrained training”.

He claimed that his revelation encouraged 20 more women to bring to him similar experiences in the industry. He bluntly added that women had to pay a price for unleashing the truth. Later he appealed the men to use their “privilege” and “ask difficult questions,” against the inappropriate behavior.

“And do it not just for your mothers, daughters, or sisters but for your friends, your colleagues, your peers. Being a man is not about “being able to get it up.” Being a man, being human – is about showing up,” Abhinav penned. In another story he mentioned the choice of “confrontation” rather becoming “part of the problem.”

Source: Pinkvilla 

Initially he did not mention the name of cinematographer Pratik Shah, nonetheless in continued updates he disclosed it.

“The number of women who’ve reached out to me is honestly frightening. I feel like I’m having a Margot Robbie moment from Bombshell. I will not be silenced. And to those still employing him- f*ck you. His name is Pratik Shah. He’s a cinematographer,” he finally mentioned the name.

Source: Pinkvilla 

Amidst the flurry of reaction online, Pratik Shah has supposedly deactivated his Instagram account. His page now features a message- “user not found” indicating either being deleted or disabled.

Celebrities arrive in support of Abhinav Singh

Filmmaker and writer Srishti Riya Jain posted a thread from Reddit wherein people discussed about the tendency to “habitually slid into women’s DMs”.

Srishti wrote, “To everyone pretending to act shocked, scandalized and suddenly awoken from their slumber….THIS man who worked on one of the ‘most empathetic’ films of the year, as per their interviews at Cannes. Has been on the prowl since 4 years.”

Smriti Kiran, founder and director, Pola Dot Slight Box, endorsed the allegations with an inclusion that she too receives such complaints from women from the industry.

Source: Pinkvilla 

About Pratik Shah

As mentioned in the official IMDb page, Shah is an American cinematographer who belongs from Dallas, Texas. He received a degree in Fine Art Photography at the Corcoran College of Art + Design, located in Washington, DC, under the BFA program, and thereafter pursued cinematography under the MFA program at UCLA in Los Angeles, CA.

His other projects include CTRL, Jubilee, and the critically lauded, Homebound.