Tanushree Dutta, one of the central figures in the wave of the #MeToo movement in the film industry, recently revealed that she turned down many offers by people involved in #MeToo. Before we go around discussing this issue let me give you a brief about the #MeToo and how Tanushree Dutta was a core part of the movement. The #MeToo movement is a social movement that prompts survivors to speak up and share their experiences of harassment and assault in the workplace. The #MeToo movement took its momentum in 2018 after several actors, journalists, and other public figures revealed their experience of sexual harassment and molestation. Tanushree Dutta was one of the high-profile cases as she accused Nana Patekar of molestation which cooked up controversies in the Industry. Later on, many victim came upfront and shared their cases with prominent celebrities. Alok Nath, Kailash Kher, Sajid Khan, and Rajat Kapoor were accused of #MeToo by several victims.
Tanushree Dutta who took a step back from acting citing personal reasons and a desire for self-reflection has been vocal about rejecting work from people who were once accused of assaulting during the #MeToo movement. Talking about her experience she said, “What’s needed is for every single actor willing to make a little sacrifice for a cause. In December 2018, I was 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.” She also got an offer from a Bengali director who was accused of #Metoo, she felt like the director just wanted to work with her to whitewash his image. She said- 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 was siding with him. He wanted to change his image through me… 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,” she added.
We need more strong figures like Tanushree Dutta who puts her career on hold to empower women in the industry.
