#MeToo: Konkona Sen, Zoya Akhtar and 11 women directors vow not to work with proven offenders

Bollywood is rattled after Tanushree Dutta opened up a can of worms when she accused veteran actor Nana Patekar of sexual harassment on the sets of the film Horn Ok Pleassss. The #MeToo debate has forced multiple women to come out to share their #MeToo experiences. Bollywood star Akshay Kumar cancelled the film’s shoot until further investigation.

Now, the critically-acclaimed directors such as Konkona Sensharma, Nandita Das, Meghna Gulzar, Gauri Shinde, Kiran Rao, Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar are among the eleven women filmmakers who have pledged their support to India’s #MeToo movement.

“As women and filmmakers, we come together to support the #MeToolndia movement. We are in complete solidarity with the women who have come forward with honest accounts of harassment and assault. Our respect and admiration to them as their courage has started a revolution of welcome change.

“We are here to spread awareness to help create a safe and equal atmosphere for all in the workplace. We have also taken a stand to not work with proven offenders. We urge all our peers in the industry to do the some,” the statement from the directors read.

The list of the female filmmakers also includes Alankrita Shrivastava, Nitya Mehra, Ruchi Narain and Shonali Bose.

In the wake of the #MeToo movement, many names from the Indian entertainment industry have cropped up in the cases of sexual harassment and misconduct.

Celebrities such as Nana Patekar, Rajat Kapoor, Subhash Kapoor, Alok Nath, Subhash Ghai, Vikas Bahl, Kailash Kher, Sajid Khan, Mukesh Chhabra and comedy group AIB, Aditi Mittal, singer Raghu Dixit, Tamil lyricist-poet Vairamuthu have been named and shamed.

The #MeToo campaign has been a welcome sign for the urge to clean the industry of the raunchy character that it has attained over the years.

(With agency inputs)