The last few months have been an eye-opener for many in the country with the MeToo movement finally gaining momentum in India. Many celebrities and big personalities were accused of sexual harassment.
From Vinta Nanda to Chitrangada Singh and Sandhya Mridul, several actresses shared their harrowing experiences of abuse and harassment on the social media.
Recently at the actress' roundtable conference moderated by CNN-News18's Rajeev Masand Rajeev Masand, Deepika Padukone, Anushka Sharma, Alia Bhatt, Tabu, Rani Mukerji, and Tapsee Pannu made an appearance and spoke about issues including the impactful #MeToo movement that shook the industry.
Talking about the changes that have taken place in the wake of the #MeToo movement in Bollywood, Anushka said, "There should be a little sense of fear. Your workplace has to be the second sacred place for you. After your home, your workplace is the place where you should feel the safest and if you're not feeling that way then that's the worst world to be living in," Anushka added
To which Rani added, "I think as a woman you have to be that power within yourself, you have to believe that you're so powerful that if you ever come into a situation like that you have the courage to say 'back off.' I think you have to have the courage to be able to protect yourself."
Rani further went on to say that martial arts and self-defence should be made compulsory in schools. While the Deepika and Anushka countered her statement with facts, Rani stuck to her only solution to sexual harassment and that was "martial arts."
While Deepika, Alia and Anushka were hailed for taking a stand for women at the roundtable, Rani's comment was massively criticised on Twitter.
Here are some Twitter reactions:
The MeToo movement took a momentum in India after Bollywood actress Tanushree Dutta accused actor Nana Patekar and director Vivek Agnihotri of inappropriate conduct in two separate incidents during the shooting of a film in 2008.
The #MeToo movement, which began as a hashtag on Twitter in 2017 amid the Weinstein incident, has now become a global phenomenon.
(With inputs from agencies)
