PTI (BOMBAY TIMES; October 29, 2018)

Lauding women for having the courage to share their sexual harassment stories, filmmaker Shonali Bose says the #MeToo movement shouldn’t be reduced to male-bashing. “This movement should at no point become male-bashing. It is not about men and women; it is about the patriarchy embedded in our society. I was in a prominent college in Delhi, I was sexually harassed in the auditorium and I went up to the stage and said we were shutting down the festival as many faced it. The principal said I was going to be expelled. It is about the ideology, like women being shamed as to how you project yourself, what you wear... It is not coming from men alone, but women as well,” Shonali said on Friday at a #MeToo panel discussion at the MAMI Mumbai Film festival.

Shonali said the incident only made her realise how women are judged for what they wear and how they appear. The 53-year-old director believes cinema is the best way to break boundaries and smash stereotypes.

Renuka Shahane, who was also a part of the session, said, “Most people can’t separate art from the person. When you are not on a shoot, you can’t be judged and pounced upon, I have experienced a lot of that in the film industry. We just try to sweep it under the carpet. This whole ‘adjust’ thing is like a big conspiracy of silence.”

For Renuka, the movement is about creating a safe and respectful environment for women. “It is unfortunate that these things happen. I have seen both the sides. Like there are women who enter the industry with the thought that they are willing to do anything to get in here, and then there are women who don’t want to do anything. They should also be allowed to work in an environment that satisfies them as actors.” She gave the example of ‘intimacy coordinators’ being hired in Hollywood to ensure standards and prevent abuse during all sexual scenes on set and said the same should be there in India as well. “My husband (Ashutosh Rana) has done a lot of that in the film industry and he has always been careful and sensitive in such scenes. It is a tricky scene to perform as you have to be in the scene and make sure your female co-star is not suffering from any kind of harassment. Good actors have managed to do it in an aesthetic way.”