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Alok Nath To Play A Judge Who Stands Against Sexual Harassment In A Film Called #MainBhi

byPramit Chatterjee
1st March 2019
2 minute read

One of the most horrific and eye-opening accounts to come out after the revival of the #MeToo movement was that of Vinta Nanda’s rape accusations against Alok Nath. It was followed by landslide support for the ‘Tara’ producer from Himani Shivpuri, Sandhya Mridul, Navneet Nishan and more accusations from the crew of ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain‘.

However, after expulsion from CINTAA and a 6-month ban on Alok Nath (that was questioned by Nanda), he was granted bail by a sessions court in Mumbai. And now the whole situation has become even muddier as a recent report says that he’s about to star in a movie.

According to Mumbai Mirror, Alok Nath has shot a film called #MainBhi (#MeToo in Hindi) where he plays a judge who takes a strong stand against sexual harassment. The actor said,

Credits: Rajshri Productions

“I’m not doing any films at the moment. This was something I shot for a while ago. Is there a problem? You sound sad that I’m doing a film. It’s a puny role for poor producers, let it release.”

Alok Nath has starred in many so-called sanskaari roles over the years and he might be looking to redeem that image with this movie. But it’s probable that he’s forgetting that real life isn’t an episode of a daily soap where everyone’s past deeds can be wiped away with a reboot.

As if that isn’t infuriating enough, actor Khalid Siddiqui who plays a lead in the Nasir Khan-directed film reported that Nath will apparently give a speech about how molestation is wrong at the end of the movie. He said,

“The film deals with child molestation, a subject that hasn’t been tapped on screen often, particularly with regard to boys. My character, along with the other, are affected by incidents that change our lives. We hope the film starts a debate on the subject.”

Apart from Nath and Siddiqui, the movie also stars Shawar Ali, Imran Khan, Mukesh Khanna, Shahbaz Khan and Sonali Raut. And it was shot in Bhopal.

While the stars of the movie were oblivious to the ramifications of casting a rape-accused actor in such a sensitive story, netizens were rightfully infuriated.

https://twitter.com/karimasanela/status/1101377719751839744

For centuries now men have said “What is male privilege? It’s a myth.” Well folks, this is male privilege. If anyone in Bollywood has an inkling of sanity left in them, they should take Ridley Scott‘s example and recast the role with an actor who is not an alleged criminal. As Nath says that it’s not a huge role, I don’t think it will be a tough task to remove him from it.

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