“Bollywood likes to steer clear of any conversation concerning sexual harassment. It comes from honing a culture of shame and awkwardness,” Tanushree Dutta, former actor and model told The Quint in an interview.
The actor, who recently resumed the B-town spotlight after a decade, had alleged that veteran actor Nana Patekar had sexually harassed her on the film sets of Horn ok Pleassss, a 2008 movie directed by Rakesh Sarang.
Speaking about the lack of support that she had received back in 2008 when she had called out Patekar for the first time, and even now, when she brought up the incident again, Dutta said that Bollywood stars were pros at “supporting” a movement like “MeToo” when it’s far away in Hollywood. But when it comes to their own industry, they’re conveniently silent.
“We Need to Talk About Sexual Harassment”
One of the main problems of this country, and especially Bollywood, says Dutta, is that there is a tendency to shy away from “uncomfortable” topics like sexual harassment, molestation and rape.
One thing needs to be very clearly told to men, women, boys and girls, that these are not the kind of things that you feel awkward about. Come out with that harassment, talking about sexual harassment, molestation, assault and anything. Stop being so awkward.Tanushree Dutta told The Quint
"If you don’t talk about it and you don’t make it a dialogue and you’re so uncomfortable about it, then justice will not happen,” she added.
Bollywood Only Acknowledges ‘MeToo’ When it’s in Hollywood
An hour or two before this interview took place, a discussion took place at the trailer launch of Thugs of Hindostan between the media present and the stars - Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan.
As expected, Big B took the diplomatic path and said... nothing.
Dutta isn’t surprised. When asked about the lack of support she received from her peers or the industry for that matter, she said that Bollywood was only good at supporting powerful movements like “MeToo” from afar, but when it came to incidents taking place under their own nose, they suddenly turned blind.
Editor: Ashish Maccune
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