Actress Tanushree Dutta has expressed her happiness on Bollywood megastar and KBC host Amitabh Bachchan calling her brave in one of the recent episodes of his quiz show Kaun Banega Crorepati. As exclusively reported by Janta Ka Reporter, Bachchan had called Tanushree ‘brave’ for triggering India’s own #MeToo movement.
Reacting to Bachchan’s praise, Tanushree said, “That was cool and I’m glad.” Tanushree told a portal that she had not seen the episode but a friend had sent her the clip of the episode to her.
“I did not see the episode where I was discussed. A friend of mine sent me a clip, which is when I actually learned about it. I am happy that my voice was put on such a big show. I was surprised that the contestants recognised my voice, normally voices of iconic singers, politicians and actors are recognised. I am happy that my voice has reached out to people and it has a recall value,” Tanushree added.
In an extraordinary development, Bachchan had told a KBC contestant last week that Tanushree’s act of raising her voice against sexual harassment was ‘very, very brave.’ This was after Amitabh Bachchan asked his guest contestant to identify the voice of an actress and a ‘beauty queen’ who was one of the first to trigger India’s own #MeToo movement last year. In the audio, the voice was talking about sexual harassment at the workplace.
The options were Tanushree Dutta, Tina Dutta, Kangana Ranaut and Mandana Karimi. As expected, the contestant, herself a rape survivor, did not take long to correctly answer that the voice was of Tanushree Dutta.
While acknowledging that the contestant’s answer was correct, Bachchan replied, “As well being an actress, Tanushree Dutta has also been a Femina Miss India. That’s why she’s in the category of beauty queen as well as an actress.
The contestant said, “She (Tanushree) has been very brave.” Bachchan too agreed as he said, “Yes, very very brave.”
This was the first time Bachchan has acknowledged Tanushree’s role in kickstarting India’s own #MeToo movement. Bachchan had to face widespread condemnation last year for admonishing a reporter after being asked to comment on Tanushree Dutta’s allegations of sexual misconduct against Nana Patekar.
Bachchan had famously said, “Na toh mera naam Tanushree Dutta hai aur na hi Nana Patekar. (Neither is my name Tanushree Dutta nor I am called Nana Patekar.)”
Salmming Bachchan for hypocrisy, Tanushree had told Hindustan Times that she was hurt since ‘these are people who do movies on social causes.’ She had said, “But when it comes to standing up and doing something about what is happening in front of you, there are these evasive statements that don’t make sense.”