#metoo in Bollywood.
It all started in 2018 when the Bollywood actresses left India stunned by their remarks and allegations against the co-actors, directors, producers, singers, etc. Not the common ones, but very well-known stars like Alok Nath, Nana Patekar, Kailash Kher, and Sajid khan.
Tanushree Dutta raised her voice again against the misconduct by Nana Patkar on the set of the movie in 2008. She logged a complaint at the time of the incident but was not even considered.
The most alleged male here is director Sajid Khan, who was accused of brutal offensive acts like stripping in his office and, of course, at his residence. The story of the casting couch best suits the director, who flashed in front of a struggling actress.
What is the #metoo Campaign?
The #metoo campaign was started on media apps by a woman who raised her voice against sexual harassment or misconduct they faced in a society of lusty and lurking men. Those women who were sexually assaulted by lewd comments, wrongful touch, molesting, or flashing would share their stories with the hashtag #metoo. Unfortunately, the world has seen too many heart-wrenching stories in the metoo campaign.
The campaign shocked the world where cricketers, politicians, actors, directors, and who not were accused of molesting or making improper comments to women.
To an extent, the #metoo campaign was a much-needed thing when many women were afraid to raise their voices against misconduct in office or workplace, or even in public places; the movement made men think of the change they needed to bring on for the sake of equality.
Now, the coin always has two sides, so far my words make you feel that men are the only ones accused of misconduct against women, but metoo had shown the balanced equation of society when a female comedian accused another female comedian of kissing her without consent, yes, let see it in the closing section further.
When did the #metoo Campaign start in Bollywood?
The metoo campaign in Bollywood started when Tanushree Dutta accused Nana Patekar of molesting her on the sets of the movie Horn Ok Pleassss in the year 2008 and followed by the accusation on Alok Nath, the man with an impression of being amongst the most Sanskari individuals, was accused of rape and molestation by coworkers. There was a trail of countercharges from both ends in the case of Alok Nath.
Now that many actors, writers, and directors were accused in the campaign, there were a few people who accepted their misbehaviour and came forward to apologise publicly. Piyush Mishra is the name of one such individual who is a writer and singer by profession in Bollywood ,who has accepted that he might have committed wrongful acts and apologised for his behaviour.
Sham Kaushal (father of actor Vicky Kaushal) is also one who offered an unconditional apology for the charges against him by a fellow worker. He was accused to show pornography to a lady in public.
Impact of #metoo Campaign on Indian Society.
The allegations of the #metoo campaign in Bollywood has brought at least a psychological change in society. #metoo movement’s impact on society in India has brought an awareness about the sexual misconduct going on in the world where we talk about equality in the society. So far we talk about getting equal rights to women and no physical or verbal abuse to be done to any women, but the #metoo campaign has revealed that every industry including Bollywood has failed to give social security to the women moving out of the house to stand alongside men in the society and failed in saving her dignity and modesty .
It’s been around four years now since the metoo campaign emerged in India as a Wake-up call, but what has changed? #toolittle. Though some Actors like Akshay Kumar have raised voices against the horrible allegation in Bollywood, he took a pause working with the accused for a period of time as per his tweet then.
On the whole, for #metoo, the male-dominated society has done #toolittle against the increasing cases. We see Aloknath is still doing movies and actors, and comedians still performing on stage. Although there isn’t an impact SEEN on the larger scale but on the ground, there is some awareness drawn into the minds of youths that are going to be in top management positions in the upcoming 5-10-15 years.
Victims and Accused
So far we have seen the first case of Bollywood and of those who were profound artists in Bollywood. Now let’s take a tour of the entire list of Bollywood’s SO CALLED intellectuals that have been accused in the #metoo campaign.
Subhash Ghai
- Mahima Kukreja, on behalf of a victim in the media industry, alleged Subhash Ghai of Drugging and Raping a women.
- Kate Sharma is one of the other names who accused Subhash Ghai of inviting her to Ghai’s residence and indirectly asking for physical favours.
Chintan Ruparel
` It was the member of Terribly Tiny Tales who was accused of sexual misconduct against a woman and was immediately removed from position in TTT.
Suhel Seth
Supriya Sharma has made allegations along with many anonymous accounts on Twitter against the writer: Suhel Seth.
Aditi Mittal
Kaneez accused Aditi Mittal of unconventionally kissing her lips on stage in front of hundreds of people and fellow comedians. This seems to breach the social rights of Kaneez and she was a victim of horrible physical touch.
A few other names in the list are Chetan Bhagat, Vikas Bahl, Utsav Chakraborty, Kanan Gill, Gursimran Khamba, Varun Grover. This list might add up more hundreds of men when lawmakers, industrialists, and cricketers are added. But here, Bollywood was the first industry that opened up, and people from other industries joined the campaign.
So far, women in every sector have been facing sexual abuse, misbehavior, lewed comments, and of course, unwelcome l physical touch, which is very alarming; and needs to stop to develop a society of equality: equal rights, equal compensation, equal respect, equal responsibility to get prosperity.
