India has many different languages and with Hindi being the national language, entertainment in this dialect is also large scale. Bollywood as it is metonymously referred to as; forms one of the key components of entertainment in India. Of course, to put this in perspective and understand the magnitude of how big the Indian Film industry is, some of the other industries include:
- Telegu language - Tollywood
- Punjabi-Punjwood
- Mollywood-Mlayalam film industry
- Ollywood-Oriya Film Industry in India
- Kollywood- Tamil language
- Sollywood – Sindh language movie industry in India
- Sandalwood – Kannada language film industry in Karnataka
These allegations were repeated and went viral on social media, which prompted several other actors to gain the courage to speak up and support.
“Indian psychology has been trained by popular media, by what they witness at home and outside in the streets. Harassment has also been a part of our culture. It’s taken lightly. It’s just a bit of teasing.”
In addition to this, there have been rumours of his abuse with his ex-girlfriends- Katrina Kaif and Somy Ali.
There were also rumours in the media about Sanjay Dutt's 'supposed' history of underworld links and drug abuse.
Similarly, Rajesh Khanna and Rishi Kapoor also have allegations by the media of having abusive histories.; and there are many others. However, despite all of this, they call the shots and are lovingly called Bhai and Baba – having biopics made on them.
What is the truth - we really don't know!
Day by day, allegations trickle out from India’s image-conscious movie business.
However, according to Mahesh Bhatt- a prominent film director while the charges against Weinstein have shaken up the industry, no one of Weinstein’s stature has been accused of abuse.
What she remains quite about is the fact that she too dated Hrithik while he was married. Her bold statement said “‘people should not work with him as he kept his wife as a trophy and indulged in relationships with younger women’.
#MeToo is not about gender, but about the right to say no: Deepika Padukone
There are many claims that Bollywood is the largest which isn't true. It is the entire Indian Film industry taken as a whole that is the largest. Keeping this in mind at least twenty-three million Indians watch a film every day.Films are made in various other languages in India, and each language’s industry carries its own name (such as “Tollywood” and “Kollywood”).
So, what took so
long for the Bollywood industry to sit up straight and take notice of such
allegations?
KNOW THE
FACTS!
In fact the two
investigative reporters (Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor) of the New York Times who broke
Hollywood’s biggest sexual harassment story who really deserve a lot of credit
for having sparked this industry-wide computation.
It was by
meticulously following Harvey Weinstein’s abuses, these two reporters have been
able to encourage many other people to gather courage and speak up about the
culture of harassment in their workspace.
The New York
Times and the New Yorker have both reported dozens of women accusing the
American film producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual abuse, rape and sexual
assault over a period of AT LEAST 30 years! At least 80 women from the film
industry have accused Weinstein of such acts.
https://youtu.be/O0R4912GXwM
Tanushree
Dutta, former Miss India and actress had alleged that actor Nana Patekar had
misbehaved with her during a film shoot in 2008 (10 years ago).
Of course,
this also gave many other women from the industry to gather the courage to
speak up about incidents that occurred to them; bringing about name and shame prominent
personalities- journalists, well known comedians, actors and actresses.
It was truly kindled by October 15th,
2017 just 10 days after the Kantor Twohey story had broken out; when the actor
Alyssa Milano had retweeted a request to victims of sexual harassment or assault.
This was soon followed by Spanish
speaking people tweeting #YoTambien, Italians #QuellaVoltaChe (The Time That)
and then French women #BalanceTonPorc (Expose Your Pig). What is horrifying is some of Hollywood eminences such as Kevin Spacey and Morgan Freeman, an American Judge Brett
Kavanaugh have also been accused of sexual misconduct.
Now a year into @MeToo, Jodi Kantor and
Magan Twohey can say that they have only one firm prediction and that is that
the discussion over harassment and assault has no end in sight. It is just a
conversation which now includes the world’s largest democracy.
Are
we seeing a fundamental alignment of gender equations in the workforce?
Will this current slew of Me Too complaints will in the end subside?
Is Bollywood ready for #MeToo?
https://youtu.be/8P2NCRN5jTE via
@YouTube
Fighting sexual harassment in Bollywood https://www.bbc.com/news/av/entertainment-arts-42610133/fighting-sexual-harassment-in-bollywood
Whether it’s an eye-opener or a blessing in disguise, the Metoo campaign has led to many women from all walks of life opening up about their horrendous experiences. Some of the other top notched celebrities includes Sajid Khan, Alok Nath, Luv Ranjan and Suhel Seth. While Nana Patekar denies allegations and literally said it was impossible to sexually harass Dutta on set as it was a crowded shoot. “There were 50-100 people on the set with me,” he told Times Now TV. Journalist Janice Sequeira wrote “Some incidents that take place even a decade ago remain fresh in your memory,” “What happened with Tanushree Dutta on the set of ‘Horn OK Please’ is one such incident – I was there.”
“Is it that the Indian
culture that has been oblivious to these incidents or has harassment been
viewed differently, Dutta said.
Bollywood is well known
for being an industry associated with abuse, cover-up and nepotism. There have been rumours in the media about Aishwarya
Rai and abuse by Salman Khan.
Even Nisha Susan, the founding editor of the women’s
website the Ladies Finger (TLF) –(an online women’s magazine that covers fresh
and witty perspectives on culture, politics, health, work, sex and everything
in between) has allegations that are being backed up by an entirely new
generation of actors and journalists who are aware of the #MeToo movement and
the reckoning of sexual abuse in the wake and time of the gang-rape and murder
of Delhi student Jyoti Singh in 2012.
“The people supporting
Tanushree are young women,” Susan said. “They are actors who have just broken
in, or are assured because they are from star families. But they are confident
young women, already established and used to talking about stuff.”
As she hopes to leave
behind a rattled film industry before heading back to the US, Dutta, encourages
other women to open up and speak up if such violence occurs to them. Something
is getting shaken up,” she said. “I’m just trying to make things
uncomfortable.”
Leaving no stone unturned, even Indian politics have
come under scrutiny! The Union Minister, MJ Akbar has been accused of behaving
inappropriately with several women whom he had invited for job interviews in
hotel rooms.
One such women, Priya Ramani had written an article about an unnamed editor who was “an expert on obscene phone calls, texts, inappropriate compliments and not taking no for an answer”.
It has been quite alarming considering that he is an MP for the ruling Bharatiya Janata
party and a celebrated former editor of newspapers including the Kolkata-based
Telegraph, the Asian Age and the Sunday Guardian. Another journalist, Prerna
Singh Bindra even said Akbar “made life at work hell!”
Bollywood bigwigs facing the heat | Hindi Movie News -
Bollywood - Times of India https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/entertainment/hindi/metoo-movement-bollywood-bigwigs-facing-the-heat/videoshow/66185372.cms?utm_source=Colombia&utm_medium=OrganicNative&utm_campaign=CTN&utm_content=1
11 prominent female filmmakers have asked Bollywood
not to work with sexual offenders and have formed a collective, sharing a note
on social media stating that they will no longer work with ‘proven sexual
offenders’.
This includes film maker Kiran Rao, Gauri Shinde, Zoya Akhtar, Konkona Sen Sharma, Nandita Das, Reema Kaati, Meghna Gulzar, Alankrita Shrivastava, Nitya Mehra, Ruchi Narain and Shonali Bose.
The note reads:
“As women and filmmakers,
we come together to support the #MeToolndia movement. We are in complete
solidarity with the women who have come forward with honest accounts of
harassment and assault. Our respect and admiration to them as their courage has
started a revolution of welcome change.We are here to spread
awareness to help create a safe and equal atmosphere for all in the workplace.
We have also taken a stand to not work with proven offenders. We urge all our
peers in the industry to do the same.”
Besides this, Kiran and her husband –Aamir Khan have
quit the Gulshan Kumar biopic after hearing about the sexual harassment allegations against director-Subhash Kapoor.
After Tanushree's accusation came out, a wave of allegations of sexual misconduct against various industry personalities hit social media. Bollywood Director, Vikas Bahl was accused of sexual assault by a former female employee of his production company - Phantom Films after a wrap party in Goa in 2015.
However, before these allegations were reported by the Huffington Post, Phantom's co-founders -directors Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyap and producer Madhu Mantena had issued a statement saying that they would be dissolving the company.
The four founders of Phantom Films
However, before these allegations were reported by the Huffington Post, Phantom's co-founders -directors Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyap and producer Madhu Mantena had issued a statement saying that they would be dissolving the company.
Another Bollywood Director, Subhash Ghai was accused of drugging and raping an un-named woman who shared her ordeal via Twitter. In addition to this, allegations have been made against comedy collective All India Bakchod and actor-Director, Rajat Kapoor.
I’m told by people that
there are innumerable such characters here,” Bhatt said. “But here in India,
there is a lot of victim blaming. If you have been propositioned, people will
say you had it coming.”
Simi Geriwal, Former Bollywood actress and talk-show host even said that it was unlikely that Bollywood’s
influential men can be scruitinised the same way as Hollywood’s. “In America, you have checks and
balances,” she said. “Here, if you criticise a male star, you’re not going to
get any roles.”
Just recently a statement came out by Kangana Ranaut
regarding the #MeToo movement and how women should no longer work with Hrithik
Roshan because he engaged in extra-marital affairs.
Hasn't she been identified with feminism where we have
forgotten social reformers such as Fatima Sheikh and Savitribai Phule? We
also need to stop pseudo feminists and demarcate all the liberties that can be
taken in the name of feminism.
Men are victims too!
Leading Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh admitted to having been propositioned by
gay casting director early in his career. He was a small-time casting agent,”
Singh told Garewal. He asked, “Tell me, darling, are you a smart worker or are
you a hard worker?” The agent then began asking more explicit questions, Singh
said.
While many courageous women speak up like Radhika Apte, it is extremely contradictory as most Bollywood stars favour their career
longevity and political correctness. This movement really makes us question
what we view as ‘normality of harassment’.
Why should we care so much about this, -well we do care about the ENTERTAINMENT in the country and of course the well-being of society.
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