Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah actor Priya Ahuja says she was mentally harassed: ‘Mujhe nikaal ke phekk dia’

Days after Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah’s Jennifer Mistry claimed that producer Asit Modi sexually harassed her, another actor from the show has come out with accusations of disrespectful behaviour and mistreatment. In a new interview, actor Priya Ahuja, who plays Rita reporter on the show, has revealed that she faced mental harassment on the show and feels that the others who are speaking up ‘are not wrong.’ (Also read: Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah’s Jennifer Mistry accuses Asit Modi of sexual harassment: ‘He called me sexy’)

Jennifer Mistry recently alleged that there have been multiple incidents when producer Asit Modi tried to flirt with her and ‘made sexual advances’. She also slammed her co-star Mandar Chandwadkar, who plays Atmaram Tukaram Bhide on the show for supporting Asit.

Now in an interview with ETimes, Priya was asked about the recent controversy surrounding the show. To which, she responded, “Yes the artists have to go through mental harassment when they work on Taarak Mehta. Kaafi hota hai (It happens a lot)… mentally I’ve also gone through difficulties while working there but it didn’t affect me much maybe because Malav, my husband who was the director of the show for 14 years, he was earning. One benefit I had of working there was since I didn’t have a contract I was never stopped from working outside.”

Further talking about how her character was cut out from the show, she said, “Asit Kumarr Modi bhai, Sohil Ramani or Jatin Bajaj, they never misbehaved with me. But as far work is concerned I’ve been subjected to unfair treatment. After I got married to Malav, they reduced my track. It was no longer how it used to be. I’ve been clueless about my track in the show after pregnancy and when Malav left the show. I messaged Asit bhai so many times asking him about my track in the show but there has been no response. Sometimes he would comment ‘Arre tujhe kaam karne ki kya zarurat hai Malav is working na (why do you need to work when Malav is working).’ I’m an individual and I did not get this show because I was Malav’s wife. I was a part of this show before I got married to Malav. I never got a proper response. Malav was shooting and I was also working on some or the other thing it wasn’t affecting me financially, so I never bothered to speak… So, now the people who are coming out and speaking like Monika Bhadoriya they are not wrong I feel. Because they never respected me to at least reply to my messages and queries. Mujhe aap ne 9 months se show par nahi bulaya (You did not call me for shoot for nine months) because your relationship with Malav ended and aapne uske baad mujhe makkhi ki tarah nikal ke phek diya (you threw me away like an insect).”

Meanwhile, the makers of the show had responded to Jennifer Mistry’s accusations by denying these claims and also said they would take legal action against her. Sohil Ramani, project head of Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, spoke to Hindustan Times and said, “We have ignored her characteristics such as creating rifts among others, coming two hours late for shoot, creating misunderstandings. We have a lot of evidence against her. We have a committee of women, why did she never complain to the committee? All of us have never even entered a female artist’s makeup room. She is playing the woman card.”