Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh deposes before police over nude photoshoot complaints

Indian actor Ranveer Singh appeared before the police on Monday to record his statement in a case registered against him for sharing his nude photographs on his Instagram account.

The Bollywood actor’s images were from a photoshoot last month for New York-based Paper magazine.

A preliminary chargesheet was registered against the actor in Mumbai last month under various sections of India’s criminal code.

The charges included “hurting women’s sentiments and modesty”.

“The actor appeared before the investigation officer today morning at 7am and his statement was recorded till 9.30pm,” an officer told The Indian Express newspaper. “Based on our questionnaire, he has given a handwritten statement to us.”

After the images were released on 22 July, Mumbai-based matrimonial lawyer Vedika Chaubey and a nonprofit, the Shyam Mangaram Foundation had filed a complaint against Singh, requesting the police to investigate whether the 37-year-old actor had intended to offend women.

“Of course this is vulgar. We can see his bum,” Ms Chaubey said in a live interview with news channel NDTV. “This is a national issue.”

Singh, one of Bollywood’s most successful actors known for his eccentricities as well as his gender-fluid clothing style, earlier spoke about the nude photoshoot with the New York-based magazine.

“It’s so easy for me to be physically naked, but in some of my performances I’ve been damn f***ing naked,” he said.

“You can see my f***ing soul. How naked is that? That’s being actually naked. I can be naked in front of a thousand people, I don’t give a sh*t. It’s just that they get uncomfortable.”

Singh’s nude photoshoot had attracted mixed reactions from his fans, with some appreciating him for being “comfortable in his skin” and others calling him out for “setting a bad example for the younger generation”.

In his magazine interview, the Gully Boy star had hit out at “haters” who criticise him for his gender-fluid fashion style.

“I work f***ing hard,” Singh said. “I want to wear nice sh*t. Eat my f***ing a**, I will wear nice f***ing sh*t.

“I bust my balls, I work 20-hour days. I’m not complaining – I’m only too happy and too grateful – but I go f***ing hard. I will f***ing buy Gucci, I will wear it from head to toe. Anybody who judges me can eat my f***ing a**.”