'Homebound' Cinematographer Pratik Shah Accused of Inappropriate Behaviour; Had Previously 'Apologised' After Complaint
Pratik Shah, who was recently in Cannes with the 'Homebound' team and has also worked on 'Jubilee', has deactivated his Instagram account since the allegations surfaced late Thursday evening.
Cinematographer Pratik Shah, known for his work on titles like Neeraj Ghaywan's Homebound, Vikramaditya Motwane's Jubilee and CTRL, has been accused of inappropriate behaviour by filmmaker Abhinav Singh, who called the latter out for being "highly manipulative" and "emotionally abusive" based on the testimony of multiple women.
Shah, who was recently in Cannes with the Homebound team, has deactivated his Instagram account since the allegations surfaced late Thursday evening. Singh has directed several short films, including Shriya Pilgaonkar-starrer Sita, and Amazon Mini TV's Yatri Kripya Dhyan De, starring Shweta Basu Prasad and Shaheer Sheikh.
Following Singh's revelation, THR India has learnt that Shah was also under the scanner four years ago when a young cinematographer had reached out to a senior member of the Indian Women Cinematographers' Collective (IWCC) and complained against him after he solicited a nude picture. A source close to IWCC confirmed the development.
According to a highly placed source, there was a "sudden movement" within the IWCC four years ago, where people were enquiring about Shah because some women had "unsavory experiences".
A young cinematographer claimed that she tried reaching out to Shah for work and was communicating with him via Instagram DMs. The conversation, which continued over several days soon escalated, and Shah solicited a nude picture, the woman claimed.
"The girl panicked and reached out to someone senior, who alerted IWCC. A senior member of IWCC reached out to him on WhatsApp and called him out, warning him that this was not acceptable behaviour. He apologized and said it was a one-off incident that won't happen again. This was the investigation that happened, and it was made known that IWCC was cognizant of his behaviour," the source added.
Without disclosing the identities, Abhinav Singh shared with THR India the testimonies of several women, who alleged that Shah behaved inappropriately around them.
According to their testimonies, the conversations often crossed into "sexual" and "creepy" territory, going beyond mere flirtation, with Shah either sending nudes of himself or soliciting. Abhinav Singh's claim, which he shared on Instagram, was that over 20 women had reached out to him, labelling the cinematographer as a "predator."
THR India reached out to Shah for a statement, but there was no response.