Women’s Day is just a few hours away and you can expect brands, websites and all kinds of businesses to put out empowering messages in salute of women. In 2018, when the #MeToo movement created waves across the globe and women stood up in solidarity to raise voices against their abusers. While it took a while for the movement to trickle down to India, it did unmask a lot of predators hiding under their positions of power.
Almost 2 years later, at the screening of a very poignant movie, Devi, women journalists asked Kajol and Shruti Haasan found any changes in the film industry post the #MeToo wave. Kajol was quick to reply in the affirmative.
Talking about it, she said:
I think somewhere down the line — good, bad, indifferent took seven steps back. And I think that was necessary also. And yes we have seen a difference and everything was done and is still done a lot more cautiously with a lot more thought. There’s a lot more thought into everybody’s daily interaction whether it’s on a set or in an office.
Talking about the same topic, Shruti narrated an incident:
So after this #MeToo movement happened, I was taking a flight to London. And someone sitting in front of me with a laptop was reading a manual of physical proximity and how to deal with it in the workspace. And I thought to myself that this has really raised the awareness about all this. That somebody is questioning and you’re answerable. Quite honestly I didn’t think India would take the #MeToo movement to that level. But it did and it made me very proud.
While we don’t know how much the #MeToo movement has taken effect on the grassroot level, it certainly has made men more cautious about how they behave. But then again, both Kajol, Shruti and even I come from privileged backgrounds. We hope men and women are more aware of their own rights and where they can draw their own lines.