After Annu Kapoor, 'Chhalaang' director Hansal Mehta reveals he was robbed too at Louvre Museum in Paris

More reports of theft in France are coming to light since actor-singer Annu Kapoor opened up about his recent experience earlier this week.
'Chhalaang' director Hansal Mehta, who saw Kapoor's video informing people of his valuables and belongings being stolen in France, took to Twitter to reveal that he had a similar experience at the Louvre Museum.

In a series of tweets, the film-maker said that his wallet was picked when he was touring the world's most-visited museum with his daughters.

Calling it a violating experience, he said that he was stranded in the foreign land without any cash, debit and credit cards. "More than anything else you feel terribly violated," he wrote in his post.


Sharing more details from the dreadful trip, the 54-year-old said that he had to 'frantically' call his wife Safeena to pick them up as they didn't have any money to pay for their trip back to the hotel.

What was meant to be a beautiful family vacation turned into an anxious experience for the Mehta family.

"Rest of the trip, a family vacation was ruined because of the anxiety and inconvenience caused by this theft," he added.


Mehta, who has made many critically-acclaimed films such as 'Aligarh', 'Shahid', 'Omerta' and 'CityLights', said that he had to immediately block all his cards. He shared that pickpocketers may have found his wallet completely useless as he didn't have much cash in there.

Warning his 144K followers on the micro-blogging site, he said that people visiting France must be careful of such thefts. "When in France beware of being robbed like this. India is often unnecessarily maligned," he concluded his post.

Many people tweeted their experiences in France in reply to Mehta's post.

'My Brother…Nikhil' director Onir also shared that his pocket was picked at the metro and his mobile was stolen on his way to the airport in Paris.

The credit card of one of his film-maker friends, who was travelling with him at that time, was misused at a restaurant for Rs 75,000, which they only realised at midnight. "Filed a complaint the next day. Nothing came out of it," he shared.

Actor Meiyang Chang, who became a household name after his debut in 'Indian Idol' in 2006, said the belongings of his DJ friend were also stolen at a Paris station. "A DJ pal’s massive backpack was stolen from under our eyes at Paris station: cash, cards, passport! Although Europe is safe, Paris has quite a reputation," he added.

Producer-director Nila Madhab Panda, known for the 2010 film 'I Am Kalam', said his family vacation was ruined too due to a similar incident. "I had the same incident with me and my son couple of years back. And guess what I recovered the wallet as I could see a girl running away with my wallet. Yes, moral is one has to be really careful," he wrote.

Nirupama Kotru, an officer of the Indian Revenue Service, was heartbroken with Mehta's post. She said that Louvre is one of her favourite places in the world and she could easily spend more than half a day if given a chance. "Hope this experience didn't put you off museums forever," she hoped.

Earlier this week, Kapoor took to social media to warn all people travelling to France to take care of their belongings. He said that his items including a bag, iPad, credit cards and cash in francs and euros were stolen while he was on a tour in France. Luckily, he still had his passport.

"They stole everything, so whenever you visit France, be very careful," he said in his one-minute-long video.

The singer-actor filed a complaint at a police station in Paris after some railway officials helped him.