A film industry often associated with with the objectification of women, an industry that non the less enjoys enormous popular appeal and has seen a revival in pay scales for its women actors, Bhojpuri cinema has not been heard of much in the context of the MeToo movement.
However, while many industries and most certainly the entertainment fraternity have not been spared MeToo allegations, Amrapali Dubey top female actor of the Bhojpuri film industry said that this was not the case in her industry.
The actress said that as far as she was aware the Bhojpuri Indistry has never heard any complaints about #MeToo, and that the Bhopjuri industry still remains safe. She has herself never experienced any such incident and many other actresses like her still remained untouched she said.
Nowadays, the MeToo campaign is underway, there are voices from some places, maybe they have been treated like this, but the Bhojpuri Film Industry is untouched.Amrapali Dubey, Bhojpuri Film Actress according to NDTV ( translated from Hindi)
Going on to say that the Bhojpuri cinema might have seen criticism ( for misogyny ) due to certain music albums, she said that this criticism is not necessarily representative of the industry as a whole where both men and women have to fight to get their due.
It is my endeavour to make films that my audiences will love me more for and films that the entire family can sit down and watch togetherAmpralali Dubey according to NDTV ( translated from Hindi)
The actor went on to say that the Bhojpuri industry is unfairly judged by people without seeing its films. She described how families have often watched her movies together and that many of her films receive a U certificate from the censor board without any problem at all. While Bollywood films have a budget of at least 10 crores a film, Bhojpuri cinema gets made in a few lakhs and still receive millions of views on line on YouTube.
With inputs from NDTV,
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)