The #MeToo movement has begun in Bollywood and all the courageous women out there are shaming their predators in public. Ever since Tanushree Dutta spoke about facing sexual harassment at the hands of Nana Patekar on the sets of Horn Ok Pleasssss 10 years ago, she opened the Pandora’s box. Till now, names like Vikas Bahl, Rajat Kapoor, Utsav Chakraborty, Kailash Kher, Varun Grover and Alok Nath have surfaced. Everybody right from Priyanka Chopra, Varun Dhawan, Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan have expressed their views on the scenario.
Parineeti Chopra is currently promoting her film Namaste England with Arjun Kapoor. We asked the actress what are her thoughts about the #MeToo movement and Parineeti revealed that she is happy that women are finally talking.
Pari said,
There is nobody happier than me because this is happening. The women have found the courage to come and speak. As a woman, I cannot imagine something worse that can happen to me. Death is easier than something like this… then living with the pain of somebody raping you or someone sexually taking advantage of you. Maybe not up until rape but even a simple forced kiss could shake my ground. I don’t think I would be able to survive that emotionally. I would never keep quiet about it. If something happened to me, I would go out there within five minutes and speak about it. I cannot imagine the women who have gone for 10-15 years of living with it. Probably tried to start families, maybe had a broken relationship, I don’t know what the psychological impact of that incident could have been on a woman. So when she is out there with a mic in her hand, speaking out, it gives me goosebumps just to even think about it.
Pari further said how its time for women to be fearless and ruin the lives of the offenders.
I want every woman out there who has gone through it to be fearless. Do not worry about the position of the man you’re naming. Don’t worry about anything. I know that those women were scared. Is this person going to come and do something to me again? or is he going to hurt my family? What is going to be the consequence of me talking about this? Today is the time, to speak. Don’t be scared, because there are enough people, police, film associations, everybody out there to protect you. I want every woman to come out there. This is the only way that we can ruin the offender’s life and I want their lives to be ruined because they ruined a woman’s life and that poor thing was quiet and dealt with it alone all these years. I will be there whenever somebody needs me to speak or to physically help them out.
Pari also revealed that people do not realise that the actors they idolise due to their on-screen role are actually ‘acting’. That is not how they are in real life too.
That is true but because this industry has famous names, it will be talked about the most. They are people who we have idolized on-screen. Unfortunately what happens with actors is that the characters that they play on-screen become their persona. Just because I am a very strong, happy, cheerful woman in films, doesn’t mean I am the same off-screen or that I am that person in real life all the time. I don’t want people to think that we can do anything to Parineeti and she will never get affected. Same way, we have idolized these men to be a certain kind. To be husbands, grandfathers, boyfriends of actresses on-screen and now those images and bubbles are bursting. I am so glad that it is happening because the Indian audience will finally understand that actors are not who they are on-screen, they are ‘acting’. I am so happy that these women will help in breaking the bubbles of all these men who have been living comfortable lives thinking nothing will happen to their world.
Kudos to Parineeti for speaking her mind out. What are your thoughts about it?