The #MeToo movement has finally arrived and infiltrated into the depths of Bollywood too and celebrities are coming out and supporting all the women who have come out and spoken about their predators in public. Everybody right from Priyanka Chopra, Varun Dhawan, Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan have expressed their views on the scenario. We also told you recently what Arjun Kapoor‘s Namaste England co-star Parineeti Chopra had to say about the #MeToo movement.
When we got in touch with Arjun, the actor spoke his mind out and said that it all begins with listening.
Arjun said,
Firstly we have to listen, we have to pay attention to these women who are coming out and talking about. They are not mad that they waited 10 years to speak. They have taken 10 years, to draw courage and speak about something they’ve been through. They have lived for the last 10-12 years with it. We cannot digress from the main issue. A lot of people will scream, shout, make it about them, use it for personal gains and agendas. I think we need to shut the hell up. We need to shut up and just listen, to begin with, and understand, introspect and assimilate what is coming our way. As men, we need to learn a lot out of this. As human beings, we need to understand where we are going wrong. The film industry as a starting point is going to be a villain of this peace.
Arjun added that there is no place for sexual harassment in our lives, profession or the world.
Honestly, I love the profession and the film industry but if we have to be the pantomime villain for there to be a cleanse, I’ll take it. If any man sitting in any part of this country or world sees what is going to happen to these men and if they are scared, paranoid or bothered, and that stops them from doing something so horrible, I’ll take that. There is no place for this in our world, profession or our lives. It is an upbringing situation. It is the patriarchy that has allowed the men to believe that they are superior and they have the power and that chain needs to be broken. And with this, it will be broken, but there is too much information coming all our ways. We need to slow down, process it, come out as one unit and confront it, rather than being scattered and trying to find issues within an issue.
The Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar actor also said how people who we have put on the highest pedestal have disappointed us the most.
The so-called torch-bearers of change that were created have ended up being the ones that are to be blamed for the Pandora’s Box opening. The ones that were put on the highest pedestal have let us down the most. And I am talking about the social media world. Not having an HR in your own office is a big mistake. It just shows that there are crores of rupees which have been given for films to be made but you can’t create a safe environment for women and that has nothing to do with anything except just taking things for granted, which is unfortunate. We all need to understand that we have messed up and we are all responsible. I don’t want to get into the naming and blaming game, it is not going to solve anything. We all need to just allow things to now take its own call and then once we have enough understand of things, take certain actions, at least professionally in our environment to make sure there is enough safety created for women to be able to do what she wants and live her life.
Arjun concluded saying,
The biggest issue in our country is that people don’t understand when a woman is not interested. If a man is standing with a woman and she smiles, it means to them that “oh, she is my property.” It is not like that and that’s where PINK was so relevant. No does mean no for f##k sake. That’s just logic, get it! There is no rocket science in the world called no. But men just feel, “aree, uski na main bhi haan hai.” It is just a bizarre thought process and that is what has led us to this. That is the biggest issue. A woman knows when a man has wrong intentions and a man knows when a woman is not interested. There is a very big difference between consensual physical intimacy and something where you are enforcing yourself. Flirting, being around somebody, having fun, fooling around that is consensual, if a woman allows you to do that, then you do that. We all need to start respecting boundaries. It’s like a slap on our faces, it’s a punch in the nuts and we all deserve it.
We really like how the Namaste England actor has expressed his thoughts. What are your thoughts about it?