Anjali Anand says childhood dance teacher abused her, said he wanted babies: ‘I had no one to talk to’

Dabba Cartel actor Anjali Anand talks about being harassed by her dance teacher as a child.

New Delhi | Updated: April 3, 2025 01:44 PM IST

3 min read

Actor Anjali Anand talked about the hardships she faced after her father passed away. (Credits/Instagram)

Actor Anjali Anand received praise for her performances in Karan Johar’s Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (2023) and the recent Netflix series Dabba Cartel (2025). The actor spoke about her life and career in a recent podcast appearance, and shared details of being harassed by her dance teacher as a child.

“I was eight years old, and this was just after my dad passed away, and my teacher told me he was my father. I believed him because I didn’t know. He started very slowly, with a peck on the cheeks and then on the lips, and then said, ‘This is what dads do.’ I didn’t know what a father-daughter relationship should look like because he used to get me whatever I would ask for,” she said in an interview with Hauterrfly.

The actor shared how her dance teacher didn’t allow her to wear her hair down or wear women’s clothing. “When my sister got married, I met the son of my father’s friend, and he had a crush on me. That’s when I felt that this was normal. He used to print out my messages and keep track of all my conversations, used to pick me up from school and even used to call tuition teachers to his place so I wouldn’t go out, and no one wondered why I was always at his place.”

The actor recalled being thankful for her first boyfriend, who saved her from the situation. “My teacher was talking about having babies, and I didn’t have the strength to talk about this with anyone, but many years later, after I had broken up with my first boyfriend, I took him out for a walk and thanked him for saving me from that man.”

“I had no one to talk to, and I have no idea how any of this was being allowed. My mother and my sisters were mourning my dad. They thought I was happy there and did not want to intervene, as they did have that talk with me about my father passing away, as I was the youngest,” added the actor.

Anjali shared how she overcame all these traumas and what true feminism means to her. She also talked about Bollywood typecasting actors, working with Ranveer Singh and how she started earning for herself at the age of 16.

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