They say that you should never meet your heroes as they are sure to disappoint you. Sooner or later we realise that many people whom we idolised as kids have a toxic mentality. The bubble bursts as we see the reality of some people.
For example, Mukhesh Khanna, whom we idolised as ‘Shaktiman’ and Bhishma Pitamaha in ‘Mahabharat’, blamed working women for incidents of sexual assault and harassment, or in other words #MeToo crimes.
In a recent interview, Mukesh Khanna said, “Aurat alag hoti hai aur mard alag hota hai.”
“Aurat ki rachna alag hoti hai aur mard ki alag hoti hai. Aurat ka kaam hai ghar sambhalna. Problem kaha shuru hui #MeToo ki? Jab auraton ne bhi kaam karna shuru kar diya. Aaj aurat aadmi ke sath kandhey se kandha milane ni baat karti hai. Problem yahi se shuru hoti hai. Sabse pehle jo member suffer karta hai woh ghar ka bachcha suffer karta hai jisko maa nahi milti.”
Here’s a rough translation of what he said:
“Men and women are differently built. A woman’s duty is to take care of the house. The #MeToo problem arised because women started working. Today, women talk about being equal to men. This is where the problem starts. The first people who suffer due to this are the children because they don’t have their mothers beside them.”
However, later he added that he doesn’t have a problem with working women.
Watch the video here:
As a video of the interview went viral on social media, people online were left disappointed with their childhood hero. Many claimed how working women aren’t the problem. Instead, people who have such a regressive mentality are the problem.
Tu kya nikal re shaktiman. pic.twitter.com/JELOO6i4N6
— MB (@mb0408) October 30, 2020
Kaam karne mein koi buri baat nahin. Agar baap ka kaam bandh ho gaya to ? Bachcha kya khaye shaktimaan? Hawa ?
— Shantanu Ghosh (@ghosh4all) October 30, 2020
Actually one of the the root causes of #MeToo moment is the sick mentality of people like him. A woman can choose any profession, be it a housewife or CEO of a company. You're nobody to tell women what to do an what no. https://t.co/VoXWosmPMS
— Gurjot Singh (@iamgurjotsaini) October 30, 2020
Painfully realising the fact that many precious time from my childhood went wasted on watching sakthiman aerial 🤦🏽♂️🙏 https://t.co/D3bzNsjx8s
— Bej ✋ (@bej_2019) October 30, 2020
Ruined Shaktiman for me!! https://t.co/zogZnVgR9N
— 𝓢𝓲𝓶𝓼🌵 (@Simxtweets) October 30, 2020
Bheeshma Pitama or Shaktimaan – this man was pretty much part of so many Indian households in the 90s and early 00s. He thinks #MeToo began because women thought to be equal with men. What a sick mindset he has. I'm sorry for women in his family to have to deal with such person. https://t.co/3T10Lwr3Uh
— Monica ⁷ 💜 💚 (@MonicaYadav08) October 30, 2020
Shaktiman not buddhiman at all. https://t.co/u2UfbahJb5
— I am Reema 👠 (@iamreeemaa) October 30, 2020
The best and worst part of social media is seeing your childhood heros fail so miserably. Fuck you shaktimaan. https://t.co/xVYGBn1St4
— P J (@poojavj06) October 30, 2020
Sorry Shaktiman! Your mindset sucks way worse than the animation of the entire TV series. https://t.co/xY4vA7FQnS
— Discover Bhubaneswar (@discoverbbsr) October 30, 2020
Ideas such as ‘women are meant to take care of the family, while men are meant to work outside’ are nothing but social constructs to discriminate between the two genders, empowering one and suppressing the other. It is because of such ideas that society often blames victims of sexual assault than holding perpetrators accountable.
The earlier we discard these ideas the better. Don’t you think?