Tanushree Dutta is one brave woman who spoke about sexual harassment 10 years ago and still hasn¡¯t got justice. In 2008, she told the media how she was sexually harassed by Nana Patekar, but nothing worked in her favour and rather she was labeled as a failed publicity-hungry actress and unprofessional. Thanks to the misogyny in Bollywood. But today after 10 years, she is back again and this time she is stronger than ever. While talking to Indiatimes, Tanushree said that this is her unfinished business in India and she wants justice.
In her recent interview, she took Nana Patekar, Ganesh Acharya and director Rakesh Sarang¡¯s names for demeaning her on the sets of Horn Ok Please. Many eyewitnesses came out and spoke in support for her. While Rakesh Sarang in an interview alleged that¡¯s she is doing all this for a comeback, Tanushree is least bothered with his statements and says he will obviously negate it.
Tanushree on Rakesh Sarang¡¯s statement that she misjudged Nana Patekar and is doing all this to make a comeback,
¡°Of course he will say that because I am bringing the truth out and the question itself that why now and why after so long is not a question - it¡¯s an allegation, the question has a lie in it because you are completely disregarding on purpose, that it¡¯s not a new topic. Interviews and coverage were given by me 10 years ago and in these 10 years I have never stopped speaking, it affected me on so many levels, it affected me psychologically and emotionally. I was suffering from PTSD because it¡¯s not every day you go in the morning to shoot something and by evening you have to be rescued by a van full of cops from a studio while you are getting attacked by an angry mob."
"Can you imagine the horror of the situation? What I and my family went through, and then after that, you have to see the harassment and do the rounds of police stations because there is already a counter FIR on you. I was like what the hell is going on? Haven¡¯t I been through enough? That I have to go through this again. I came here on a holiday and I have a great life abroad. Somebody simply asked me a question about ME TOO movement, I was not purposely giving interviews on this topic, I was asked a general question, Why is MeToo movement not happening in India, I said how will it happen in India unless I have not given justice 10 years ago, so the journo tweeted my article it went viral and the next thingthat? is now everybody wants to talk about it and not willing to let it go because everyone wants this cause to happen and it¡¯s not for Tanushree Dutta it¡¯s for someone who is finally coming out and speaking about it."
Tanushree then reacted on Nana¡¯s statement to the media on suing her and questioning her back ¡®What Does She mean by Sexual Harassment?¡±, ¡° His attitude is disgusting, what does he mean by asking what sexual harassment means? Tomorrow when some girls come forward and accuses someone of rape, the rapist will turn around and ask what exactly do you mean by rape? Haven¡¯t I described exactly what happened on the set and its aftermath? My description doesn¡¯t fit into his idea of sexual harassment. Does he actually think that grabbing a girl, pushing her around, planting an intimate scene after her complain and finally calling goons to smash her car is some form of acceptable social behaviour ? Was he under the impression that when he is disregarding a person¡¯s subtle signals, body language that dude I am uncomfortable stay away, despite all that he is still pushing me around , putting the choreographers? aside and trying to teach to me how to dance."
She then explained the mindset of the people and why it needs to change ASAP;
"This is the mindset we are trying to change, people who harass and think that it¡¯s ok, this is a misogyny of their thought process or their upbringing of the way they think, it¡¯s ok to bully a girl, it¡¯s ok to intimidate and call goons, that was a direct way of saying you didn¡¯t like my proximity now do a intimate step , sexy step where I can feel you up, so I didn¡¯t fall for that trap and he was like oh how dare she? She is very smart? What if she goes out and talks, so now let¡¯s just call the MNS people.?He joined the MNS party in 2008, he wanted to get into politics".
Talking about Patekar's penchant to become a lead hero and the failure to do so, Dutta said,
"Nana Patekar in 80¡¯s and 90¡¯s was a sort of character artist, that time the movies were made on the basis of a hero or the character artist and he would do these art films, back in the days the only films that used to be made were either art films or commercial films, content driven films weren¡¯t in the trend. He used to do these arty roles where he used to get to play lead roles, so this guy always thought in his heart that he is a hero, nobody took him or treated him as a hero in real life, so one way he would feel like a hero was mistreating a woman, intimidating women. He is that stereotypical guy who loves to bully people, not only women he has intimidated even men. I'm sure there will be men who will be coming out and speaking about his intimidation and manipulation. Actors will talk about how he used to cut their roles, these senior actors do this."
Recalling the incident that took place on that fateful day, ten years ago, Tanushree said,
"My spirit just didn¡¯t allow it, I was uncomfortable with his behaviour and complained about it,? when I complained of him behaving inappropriately and asked him to go home, soon this demand came that I have to do the sexy and intimate step with him. He had one line in the song which was already picturised, he had no work on the set but still he was there, the whole song was picturised on me, but he was grabbing me, pushing me, putting his arms around me, all this happened and after two hours they dropped a bomb on me asking to do intimate scenes with him. Daisy Shah who was a choreographer¡¯s assistant, she was like 'oh this is the step you have to do and the other dancers showed me the step. It was all touchy and feely. I was shocked. It was like humiliating a person. I said I am not doing this and I walked off. And right after I did, they called the media and labeled me unprofessional."
I had completely forgotten somebody was covering Behind the Scenes on set and she observed everything that happened, I felt it was a miracle as she herself came and spoke about it.
Tanushree also shed some light on the consequences of this incident. She said,
"When I was abroad I always had this instinct that I have this unfinished business in India. I have a great life there, it¡¯s like I got a new life. But what happened with him always stayed with me, whenever I used to Google myself I used to read lies about me. A Google search on me brings out such toxic and negative stuff which has been repeated for 10 years and became a truth. Because lies getting repeated all the time ends up becoming a truth. These lies perhaps made me lose a job abroad, it was excellent profile which fetched me a good six figure salary but they didn¡¯t call me for an interview, maybe they must have got a better candidate, but I had such a? strong profile, I was ex Miss India, ex Bollywood actress, I was thinking what happened, then one day I Google about myself and read all the nasty things about me. After I googled myself I thought what if the prospective employers must have googled about me. In India today¡¯s media story is tomorrows¡¯ trash, but in abroad they don¡¯t think like this especially the corporate, so if they wanted to hire me they must have surely researched about me. I cannot use reference of India to get a job In USA, I can show the recommendations which I got during my green card process, even during interview I could have done that, but first I should have been called for the interview which I didn't."
Today I just want people not to call me a loser, I had 30 to 40 films but I couldn¡¯t do because I am not a robot that such a big thing happened to me and the next day I will come smiling and do the films. These things leave an impact on you, it¡¯s not easy to come and talk about it.
"Me too Movement happened in Hollywood because there people had faith and belief in the people who were talking about it. Harvey Weinstein was a big name, Meryl Streep called him God, he made careers, he had Oscars, but he got what he did. Nana Patekar is a chindi chor, he was never a powerful person, he was just an actor, a hustler who is not getting to do heroic films. Horn OK Please was a film which was not getting market; people were not ready to buy the film. I was called to sell the movie, so imagine my market value, my 3 day shoot could have helped sell the movie, that was the grace on me, they chased me for 3 months to do the song, I didn¡¯t even think Nana Patekar was a big deal, but when I went on set, I saw this man's arrogance and ego was through the roof, he had a stinking attitude and vibe."
"It¡¯s really commendable somebody like Farhan Akhtar has come out in my support. What I liked about his tweet; he didn¡¯t reduce me to survival. He hastagged me and said he believes me, he has given a face to it. Whereas a lot of people's support looks like their PR have asked them to do, What I commend about Farhan, Swara and Richa¡¯s support is it¡¯s specific and not generic."
"I think the media trail that is happening will culminate into some kind of justice, even if Bollywood boycotts Nana Patekar, Ganesh Acharya , director and producer, I think that would be some form of justice, Come on, you can¡¯t be announcing films with them, you know the whole story, you know what I have gone through, you can¡¯t just let them get away, not after all that they did to me, but called the media and said how unprofessional I am. They just went all out and did'nt stop there, Of course, I want justice; this is my unfinished business that I have in India."
It's time the film industry takes a stand and not be indifferent to workplace harassment stories.