Choreographer Shaik Jani Basha allegedly forced junior artist to convert before marriage and sexually abused her

On September 15, 2024, National Award-winning choreographer Shaik Jani Basha, also known as Jani Master, was arrested for sexually assaulting a 21-year-old woman with whom he had worked. The woman alleged that Jani Master had assaulted her during outdoor shoots and also attacked her at her home, where he allegedly pressured her to convert to Islam and get married, according to the police FIR.

Based on her complaint, the Raidurga police filed a zero FIR and subsequently transferred the case to Narsingi police station on September 15 evening as the woman is a resident of that area, police officials said on September 16, 2024.

This case is part of a broader pattern of allegations of sexual harassment and exploitation surfacing across film industries. The Malayalam film industry, which is still grappling with allegations against prominent stars in the wake of the recent Justice Hema Committee report, reflects a growing trend of #MeToo incidents. There is a growing demand for systemic reforms and strict measures across the board.

Shaik Jani Basha, who is also affiliated with the Jana Sena party, has choreographed for several popular Telugu films, including Allu Arjun’s ‘Ala Vaikunthapuramulo’ and ‘Pushpa’, as well as Tamil and Hindi films. His notable works include the choreography for ‘Kaavaalaa’ from ‘Jailer’, ‘Ranjithame’ from ‘Varisu’ and ‘Arabic Kuthu’ from ‘Beast’. He won the National Award for Best Choreography for the song ‘Megam Karukkatha’ from the Tamil film ‘Thiruchitrambalam’, starring Dhanush and Nithya Menen.

Following the allegations, the Jana Sena party, founded by actor and Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, was quick to distance itself from Jani Master. In an official statement, the party announced that Jani Master has been directed to refrain from participating in its activities. The decision was taken in light of the ongoing case against him and is effective immediately.

The FIR of September 15, 2024 reads: “In 2019, the victim joined Jani Master’s team as an assistant choreographer. Whenever she left Hyderabad for a shoot, her mother did not travel with her as there were no tickets etc, they got a call from the Mumbai project for which she had to go to Mumbai along with Jani Master and 2 other male assistants. During their stay in the hotel in Mumbai, Jani Master violently abused the victim and threatened her not to tell anyone otherwise she would be fired and would not be able to work in the industry anymore, and out of fear she had to keep quiet, then he continuously harassed her multiple times on every shoot.”

Shaikh Jani Basha allegedly asked for sexual favours from the victim, and when his advances were rejected, she allegedly suffered a physical attack,”He asked for sexual favors in the shooting gallery when she entered the vanity, he removed his pants and when she refused, he physically abused her and intimidated her in the shooting gallery in front of everyone by touching her inappropriately. Once when she entered a vanity, he asked for sex and when she refused, he held her hair and pressed her head against the mirror. Later he started going to her house late at night, ransacked her house and vandalized Scooty and he forced her to come out but she never agreed to any of this.

The complaint also alleged that Jani Master and his wife had threatened and assaulted the victim and pressured her to convert to their religion and get married. They said: “he pressurizes her to convert to religion and marry him. After few of this, when the victim woman was working individually, he along with his wife went to her house and forced her to open the door by force, entered inside and started questioning her about religion and Jani Master’s wife beat her several times. Jani Master does not allow her to work individually on other projects when the opportunity came. Shaikh Jani Basha went to the victim’s place and started threatening her by sending everyone outside, he pressurized her to come with him and marry him at that time and threatened her that she will not be allowed in the industry.”

(With input from DTNext)

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