Tanushree Dutta’s explosive revelations that she was sexually harassed by veteran actor Nana Patekar and right-wing filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri sent shock-waves across India.
While she found plenty of support from artists such as Priyanka Chopra, Sonam Kapoor, Farhan Akhtar, Renuka Shahane and Twinkle Khanna, some big names including Amirabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan and Salman Khan evaded questions on the controversy.
Renuka Shahane in particular took to Facebook to write a long post in her support while applauding Tanushree Dutta’s courage. She wrote, “I have never worked with either Nana or Tanushree & neither was I a part of “Horn Ok Pleassss”. But there are some points in Tanushree’s story that resonate with me.”
Meanwhile, some known vicious Hindutva trolls made desperate attempts to vilify Tanushree in light of her serious allegations against Vivek Agnihotri, the new RSS poster-boy in town.
This is how one Shefali Vaidya, known for her hate-filled tweets, vilified a victim of sexual harassment. What many found shameful in Vaidya’s tweet was that she herself is a woman. Not too long ago, Amitabh Bachchan had endorsed a communal video posted by Vaidya.
This explains why Bachchan has been silent on the topic, just like he had lost his voice on the Kathua gang-rape of an eight-year-old Muslim girl.
Meanwhile, a few other pro-BJP actresses have chosen to comment on the topic, albeit with utmost care in a bid to not heap embarrassment on either Patekar or Agnihotri. Kangana Ranaut, who’s believed to have made up her mind to join the BJP, told a portal, “I am not here to pass judgement. That’s neither my place nor my intention. I appreciate her courage to speak about alleged harassment that has been caused to her. It’s her and the accused’s fundamental right to speak about their experience of the same situation.”
Actress Koena Mitra said that ‘this Gundagiri‘ had to stop adding that ‘we need to stop the men in the industry from dictating the narrative.’ “It’s not just Tanushree but there are so many girls with so many stories that perhaps might not get the same attention or platform that she got,” she was quoted as saying.
Payal Rohatgi, who had recently shot a video to defend the Centre’s Narendra Modi government on the raging Rafale controversy, said, “As a woman, I want to believe her (Tanushree) and want her story to be heard…. However, when the name of director Vivek Agnihotri came up, I felt this was getting a political colour.”
Nana Patekar had threatened to send a legal notice to Tanushree, but the Chocolate actress dared the veteran actor to go ahead and do so adding that she had lined up her own team of lawyers to defend her ‘interests.’
