Bollywood superstars Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar: Women speaking up about sexual misconduct is overdue
Reuters
- In interviews with Business Insider, Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, and Twinkle Khanna say that a hushed culture of sexual misconduct exists throughout India's entertainment industry.
- Allegations against Hollywood mega-producer Harvey Weinstein have encouraged other women to detail reports of sexual misconduct.
- Women in Bollywood are cautious to speak up, but some are starting to tell stories of sexual misconduct.
Hollywood has been roiling with claims of sexual misconduct ever since The New York Times and The New Yorker published accusations in October against mega-producer Harvey Weinstein. Since then, more than 50 women have accused him of rape, unwanted advances, and sexual harassment.
The avalanche of allegations has rocked the film and television world and has even seeped into other industries. In recent weeks, widespread discussions have sprung up among stars in Bollywood.
'Everybody knows about it'
In an interview with Business Insider, Akshay Kumar - one of the most famous actors in Bollywood - said sexual misconduct is "everywhere" and that the allegations against entertainment stars in the US may encourage other women around the world to speak up.
"It's just that when [sexual misconduct] happens in Hollywood, it comes out so big," Kumar told Business Insider. "Everybody knows about it, but it's everywhere."
Sherwin Crasto/Getty Images
"It's an outreach that's been suppressed for very long," said Khanna, who is also Kumar's wife. "Women are tired of being grabbed and groped. Women are tired of bending over backwards to get ahead in the workforce, bending over backwards to the point where sometimes they have to lie horizontal in order to go forward."
Bollywood is both larger and smaller than Hollywood, depending on whether you measure size by ticket sales and movies produced (larger) or total revenue (smaller). But broadly speaking, the Indian film and TV industry is colossal. And in a country where patriarchal values still wield tremendous influence, sexual misconduct is especially concerning to a number of stars.
"We should not just let it be about 'Oh this man behaved like this' and 'This is so shocking,' or all of that," Shah Rukh Khan, another top movie star who's worked in Bollywood for three decades, told Business Insider. "But we should respect the emotion of the women taking such a strong step in coming out, and being so brave, and help stop this from happening in our individual industries."
Khan admitted his A-list status comes with some blind spots. When asked if he'd encountered or witnessed any sexual misconduct in his industry, he said he hadn't. But he was quick to concede that he is a successful man in a patriarchal system.
"The sad part of it is that you don't know if it could be happening right under your nose," Khan said.
Women are overcoming the culture of shame
Bollywood actresses and producers have reported experiencing harassment before the Weinstein allegations. At the same time, there is a culture of shame for women who come forward.
Kangana Ranaut was one of the first (and very few) women in Bollywood to do so.
Saurabh Das/AP Images
"I got harassed and I know a lot of people who got harassed. Sometimes you don't have that liberty to put your career at stake," she recently told The Indian Express. "Why would you say, 'Why now? Are you out of job? You didn't scream at that time. Where's the photo? Where's the video?' I should be allowed to talk about [sexual harassment] even from my death bed."
Stories from women in India's entertainment industry are starting to trickle out. In a recent report from The Guardian, Bollywood actor Reena Saini accused casting director Sohan Thakur of groping her; Swara Bhasker, now an award-winning actor in India, alleged that, when she was new to the industry, a male director sent her incessant text messages on set and demanded she hug him while drunk.
Khanna said that she has heard rumors of sexual misconduct in Bollywood, and adds that she's "sure it exists in every profession - across the board." Khan echoed her sentiments.
"But I think that times are changing," Khanna said. "It's wonderful that women are standing up for something that's been going on for a long time, and hopefully, within a generation, we will come closer to this equality we're trying to achieve. "
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