The #MeToo and Time’s Up movements that’ve taken Hollywood by storm seem to be taking frustratingly longer to take roots in Bollywood. Many Bollywood actresses have spoken up and shared their stories. Yet, there is an unspoken crisis of faith that the impact will be barely negligible compared to what’s happening in Hollywood. One such believer is actress Tanushree Dutta.
In a recent exclusive interview with Zoom TV, Tanushree Dutta was asked about her views on the impact of the #MeToo movement on the film industry.
The actress was of the belief that the #MeToo movement was not likely to reach India until people acknowledged what had happened to her on a film set 10 years ago.
“So, my question is, ‘Who is going to believe these hypocrites?’ These are the people who stand up and raise their voice against women empowerment.”
By this, Tanushree revives a 10-year-old controvery where she had alleged that veteran actor Nana Patekar had harassed her on the sets of the 2009 film ‘Horn Ok Pleassss‘.
In 2009, Tanushree was supposed to do an item number in the movie that starred Nana Patekar, Rimi Sen and others. She walked out of it, citing Nana Patekar’s indecent behaviour as the reason.
Speaking of what happened 10 years ago, Tanushree named producer Sami Siddiqui, director Rakesh Sarang and choreographer Ganesh Acharya as well.
The actress went on to state how when she spoke out about the incident, no one ventured to do anything about it.
“When I had complained about the same to the producer director, and told them to ask him (Nana Patekar) to stay away from me, they didn’t pay heed. Just because I was new to the film industry, whether or not it was required, let’s do an intimate scene with her.”
In 2009, when Tanushree alleged this, Nana Patekar had held a press conference at the behest of the director and producer and refuted the allegations.
According to Zee News, Nana Patekar said,
“Tanushree is my daughter’s age and I have no clues about what made her say such things about me. I have been a part of this film industry since the last 35 years and haven’t had anyone saying such things about me ever.”
Tanushree Dutta further alleged that while everyone is aware of Nana Patekar’s behaviour with women on set, there is no one to report on it or take action.
“When you are in the industry you hear so many stories about these actors. But these things never take surface because they are PR packaged very well. They will give some money to some poor farmers. How much they do and how much they don’t know, no one knows. But all this is just for show.”
Tanushree even called out actors like Akshay Kumar and Rajnikanth for working with Nana Patekar, despite such controversies.
“If such big stars will keep working with these culprits then there’s no hope for any movement to happen.”
Wonder what Nana Patekar has to say about this controvery raising its head again. However, what cannot be denied is the callous attitude hypocrisy of the industry towards allegations of sexual misconduct amongst their own peers. The change has to come from within.