In 2018, the #MeToo movement shook up the Hindi film industry when Tanushree Dutta accusing Nana Patekar – for the second time – of sexual misconduct on the sets of their film, Horn Ok Pleassss, opened a floodgate. The movement has been making headlines since August this year when a 235-page report was released by the Justice K Hema Committee on the sexual harassment of women in the Malayalam film industry. One would imagine #MeToo to have a trickle-down positive impact on the workings of show business but has it really?
It has been six years since the movement but Tanushree hasn’t had the opportunity to be on a set. The price of speaking up was also borne by Malayalam actors and founding members of Women in Cinema Collective – Parvathy Thiruvothu and Rima Kallingal – as work opportunities dried up. In an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, Tanushree reveals that she was approached by two #MeToo accused to work on their films but she let go of them as she didn’t want to set a wrong precedent.
“What’s needed is for every single actor willing to make a little sacrifice for a cause. In December 2018, I got offered a movie by a very big producer. She has made some of the biggest films. But her director was a #MeToo accused and I promptly refused the opportunity. Who’s losing in this bargain? Me. I haven’t done film work in a long, long time,” she tells us.
Tanushree adds, “I do appearances and brand events only. I want to do lead roles in films about women empowerment. But since his name came up during #MeToo, I didn’t want to take that offer up. Such an episode happened again after a couple of years. In between, I had signed some decent projects but I was targeted very badly and my projects were sabotaged.”
In another incident, last year, she was offered a film by a director from Kolkata that was supposed to help her make a comeback. But she turned that down too on a similar pretext. “I liked the story and the role was fantastic. I thought it’s a great opportunity for me to resume my acting career with a Bengali film. A week later, I came to know that his name too had come up during #MeToo. The narration had happened and I had also put forth some conditions, which he had agreed upon. I was happy that someone was working diligently on the script to make my character more prominent,” she recalls.
According to Tanushree, it was an opportunity for the filmmaker to whitewash his image following allegations of sexual misconduct. “Why did he come to me? He thought that #MeToo ko kaafi time ho gaya hai and that if he casts me in his film, it will give the impression that I’m siding with him. He wanted to change his image through me. Maybe, he also thought that since no one is working with him in Bengal, he would work with a Bollywood actress and create a bigger profile for himself,” she states.
She continues, “There was no case against him but the whole industry had believed the woman. Since Bengal is an open-minded society, it’s understandable why they believed her and supported her. And if I did that film, it would look like the leader of #MeToo is now supporting an accused. I politely refused. There was an agency involved. I told them that I want to let the film go. I even consulted my dad to get his opinion on the matter and he told me that it wouldn’t be ethically right to take up a film with someone who is an accused.”
But giving up work opportunities seems like a small price to pay as the Aashiq Banaya Aapne and Bhagam Bhag remarks, “I couldn’t bring myself to do that film. I made that sacrifice when I needed work the most. Movies is my passion and I had built a career for myself through so much of hard work but all of it was taken away from me. If I can display such integrity and honour and make these small sacrifices, others should also do it to bring about some change.”
Comments
0 comment