Tanushree Dutta says some big stars staying silent on MeToo are complicit

Actor Tanushree Dutta has said that many ‘big stars’ who have kept silent about the ongoing #MeToo movement in India are ‘complicit’ or ‘uncomfortable’.

Tanushree was speaking at the Aaj Tak Mumbai Manthan 2018, where she expressed her disappointment at how she was treated a decade ago, when she first said that she had suffered harassment in the industry. The actor’s allegations against her Horn OK Pleassss co-star Nana Patekar have effectively opened the door for the #MeToo movement in India.

She said, “They are considering it a controversy, not a revival. You wait for it to pass over - when you consider it a controversy. I was on national TV 10 years ago for three days - I had a lot to lose back then. I was moving to better and bigger projects back then. I had so much to lose. But I was put in a situation because I was subjected to it. I had to defend myself. I wanted to speak to protect myself from the damages. But the whole thing blew over.”

While several A-list actors such as Akshay Kumar and Aamir Khan have responded to the movement and even taken action - Akshay halted work on Housefull 4 after similar allegations came out against director Sajid Khan and Aamir backed out of the Gulshan Kumar biopic - many such as Salman Khan have kept silent.

“They [big stars] are uncomfortable; some of them are complicit. A lot of people don’t have my phone number [to ring me up]. Some people have come forward on social media to provide support; some have taken a stand by not working with the perpetrators. I am not on social media so I escape reading that kind of stuff [the backlash]. But I am also aware of the encouragement I am receiving,” she continued.

Tanushree had said in a Hindustan Times interview that she was disappointed by actor Amitabh Bachchan, whose response to the controversy was: “Neither is my name Tanushree Dutta nor Nana Patekar”. She says, “I’m hurt, as these are people who do movies on social causes. They play roles in films and the audience applauds. But when it comes to standing up and doing something about what is happening in front of you, there are these evasive statements that don’t make sense.”

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First Published: Oct 23, 2018 18:19 IST