Returning to the US after sparking anti-harassment wave, Tanushree Dutta hopes justice will be served in her case against Nana Patekar
Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; December 15, 2018)

During her five-month stay in India, she can claim to have brought about a change that Bollywood was in dire need of. But now, Tanushree Dutta is ready to go back "home".

The actor, who led the #MeToo movement in India, reveals that she is returning to New Jersey. "My future lies there. I will head out early next year. When I came down to Mumbai, I thought I would go back after a month, but it's been five months," says Dutta.

By her own admission, her Mumbai stint has been eventful - she called out Nana Patekar for sexually harassing her on the set of Horn Ok Pleassss, a decade ago, thus prompting several women to name and shame their sexual predators. However, the #MeToo wave is unfortunately on the ebb. Ask her if her decision to return to the US is influenced by the petering out of the movement, and Dutta says, "I do not look at it as now hot, now cold. Such things are a revolution. What matters is its impact in the future. It has created an atmosphere where sexual predators are aware that they cannot get away with misbehaviour. It came as a surprise when women began calling out the sexual predators. I am aware that #MeToo cannot be front page news every day."

The actor had filed an FIR against Patekar in October. Won't her absence hamper the investigation? "I have been living with it for a decade without redressal. The legal process is not dependent on me being around. If I have to be around to push the case, what is the point of the legal system and law enforcers?"

While many have lauded her for voicing her protest in a male-dominated industry, Dutta also had to battle naysayers. "People said I did this to get film offers. But they should know better. This was not the best way for me to return on the big screen. Would any industry folk want to get involved with a person who is creating a storm?"