Prashant Singh (HINDUSTAN TIMES; June 4, 2020)

Every morning, when she wakes up, Farah Khan doesn’t have just her family or loved ones on her mind but also many others, who “are going through unimaginable situations” during the Coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing lockdown. “I have a simple mantra: I must do one good deed every day,” says the 55-year-old filmmaker.

Be it getting sanitary napkins for lady cops, arranging for masks and groceries, distributing water bottles among migrant labourers, helping a lady in Chennai who takes care of street dogs (after reading a story in HT City/Café’s special section Six Shots of Life) or now, “initiating the process of sponsoring” the education of Jyoti Kumari Paswan (the 15-year-old girl who cycled with her father from Gurugram to Bihar’s Darbhanga), Khan has been at it, without break.

“Not just me, there are so many people who want to do good work but don’t know how to do it. But at the same time, I am so proud of my friends such as Sonu Sood (actor), Vikas Khanna (chef) and even Shah Rukh (Khan; actor) — who is doing amazing work through Meer Foundation,” says the Main Hoon Na (2004) director, whose 12-year-old daughter, Anya, has raised ₹3 lakh through her sketches. “Till date, Anya — who is an animal lover — has done about 150 sketches. It’s nominally priced at ₹1,000 per sketch, but people have paid more as well,” she says.

The money has been used to buy groceries for people in slum pockets of areas such as Thane, Kalyan and Juhu Galli in Mumbai. The lady in Chennai was also helped through Anya’s sketch money.

Reportedly, politician and environmentalist Maneka Gandhi even wrote a mail to Khan, expressing how she was “very impressed” by Anya’s work. Ask the filmmaker about it, and she says, “I’ll continue to do whatever is within my capacity. I lived through a poor childhood. Probably, that’s why I’m empathetic towards people, especially the poor. I’ve worked very hard — and also had God’s blessings — to reach where I am today. So, the idea should be to give back to the needy when you have enough.”

As told to Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 5, 2019)


• DIRECTOR • SRIRAM RAGHAVAN

• FILM • Ek Hasina Thi (2004)

• CAST • Urmila Matondkar, Saif Ali Khan

• LOCATION • Kharghar, Chandivali Studio

Fifteen years since its release, my debut film Ek Hasina Thi is still remembered for its horrific rats. Interestingly, they were not a part of the initial script. In the first act—the initial 45 minutes—Saif’s (Ali Khan) character, Karan Singh Rathod, comes across as a classy guy, a suave, rich businessman, even though one is unsure about what he does.

It was while brainstorming with RGV (producer Ram Gopal Varma) on how to establish that Karan is a gangster with underworld links, that we recalled a scene from The Godfather, Part 3, where Andy Garcia and his girlfriend were in bed when a gangster surprises her in the kitchen. In our film, Urmila’s (Matondkar) character Sarika is surprised not by a man but a mouse in the kitchen. Her scream brings Karan running, but he later scoffs at her for being frightened of a mouse which has since fled.

The scene brought thrills and some laughs and helped establish that Sarika is terrified of rats till she is thrown into prison for a crime she is tricked into confessing to having committed. Behind bars, she encounters not just bullies and weirdoes, but also looks her fear straight in the eye. When she smashes a plate on one of the rats, you know her ordeal has empowered her. And that was the perfect interval point.

The second half was Sarika’s quest for revenge as she entangles Karan in a cat-and-mouse game. In the original script, we had Karan threatening her at gunpoint for the money she has stolen from his boss, making him the patsy. Sarika tells him she’s hidden it in an abandoned mine where her father worked. She takes him below, then, knocks him down and escapes in the shaft which she destroys once she reaches the top, leaving Karan to die underground.

While on a recce to Rajasthan we had found the perfect mine only to realise that it would be impossible to shoot there because how do you take a crew and equipment down there. So, we wondered what to do and someone mentioned that this place must be full of rats. That gave us the idea of using rats.

We toyed with several endings, including the usual one of Sarika pushing Karan off the cliff. Then, we came up with the idea of her trapping him in a cave where the rats come creeping once it gets dark. When I argued that since the story was set in Delhi, where would Sarika find a secluded cave, Ramu emphasised that emotion scored over logic. He told me to shoot it convincingly, confident it would be accepted.

We filmed in a quarry in Kharghar and at Chandivali Studio. It was kind of ironic that having mocked Sarika’s fear earlier, Karan is himself terrorstruck by rats at the end. Chained in the cave, in the fast fading light of the flashlight, he sees rats creep up on him, gnashing their teeth, and knows it is the end. We debated over how much to show, eventually leaving it to the audience to imagine his death as the light goes out and he screams as the rats attack… We had three junglee rats which we kept tied and used for terrifying close-ups. The rest of the rats you see in the frame were actually white mice. We had called for two dozen of them and my assistant Kusum touched them up with black tooth-powder so they appeared a darkish grey on screen. These mice are the friendly sort, and even I have held them without fear of getting bitten. For that shot where a rat runs up Saif’s leg, we used a wound-up mechanical toy.

I must confess that I had a moment of worry when my sister-in-law who was not around when the film released, excitedly called me from a theatre in Delhi a few days later to say that she was watching the film. And, she added, that Maneka Gandhi was sitting one row ahead of her. Fortunately, she didn’t have any problem with the rats in our film.

Ek Hasina Thi was a turnaround film for Saif. His first reaction to my narration was, “I have just started getting a fan following and you want me to play a villain, make them hate me!” Fortunately, both of us like the same kind of films and after I pointed out that Karan is more like a Charles Sobhraj kind of a character, diabolical but charming, he accepted the challenge despite the fact that it went against his image. Urmila too veered away from her glamorous avatar and came up with a gritty performance. After the film’s release, many girls asked my co-writer Pooja (Ladha Surti) for the location of the cave. They wanted to send someone there.

The film wasn’t a huge commercial hit, but it was critically-acclaimed. Interestingly, even though the title was Ramu’s idea, he later wanted to change it because he felt it gave the impression of a romantic film. He suggested Shock! instead. But I stuck to my guns and I am delighted Ek Hasina Thi and its rats still linger in people’s minds.

The Women Against Sexual Harassment (WASH) committee has called out Kainthola for naming the student who had complained against sexual harassment on campus
Mayuri Phadnis (BOMBAY TIMES; October 29, 2018)

Few days after a woman student at FTII had sent a letter to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the chairperson of FTII, Anupam Kher, and the Internal Complaints Committee at FTII, alleging that she has been targeted by the institute’s director Bhupendra Kainthola following a sexual harassment complaint on campus, members of WASH (Women Against Sexual Harassment), a collective body with members of FTII and SRFTI, have written to Maneka Gandhi, (Union Cabinet Minister for Women & Child Development) against Kainthola for revealing the identity of the victim.

In a letter to addressed to the Ministry and Kher, dated October 22 (a copy of which is with us), the woman who is a direction student (referred to as P), had stated that Kainthola has created a “hostile work environment and is obstructing her work in the institute”.

The student, who wished to remain anonymous, said that this “harassment” at the campus was because she had also testified against professor Nilanjan Dutta, who was called out for being a sexual harasser last year by former student Advaita Das. His name was also mentioned in the list that Raya Sarkar had posted on social media in December last year. Sarkar had listed well-known Indian academics as being sexual harassers. “Dutta was suspended from FTII in 2008 after Das’ case was highlighted. He re-joined in 2012 and was eventually dismissed after the case was reopened and students, including me, had testified against him,” she said.

While talking to us, the student alleged that FTII has asked her to vacate the hostel within the campus by November.

Kainthola, in his defence, had sent out a press statement and had mentioned the name of the student in it. Speaking to TOI before, he had said that the student too had posted a complaint against him on her Facebook profile, naming him. However, while talking to us, the student said, “I did not mention any specific complaints. My post was generic, talking about the situation prevalent in the institute.”

WASH, in its statement, has cited section 16 in Chapter V of the Sexual Harassment Act which forbids revealing the identity and address of the aggrieved party. Speaking to us, Kunjila Mascillamani, one of the founders of WASH, said, “The only place where she had revealed her identity was with us. We chose to withhold her identity. Anyone can quote generic opinions (like in this case) showing solidarity, but this act by the director is a serious breach of law.”

Kunjila further added that they have been following this case since the beginning and she feels that the situation has not been handled with the gravitas it deserves. “P had accompanied a fellow student to the director when she had a complaint against one of the professors Nilanjan Dutta, and since then she had been on the institute authorities’ radar,” alleges Kunjila. She further added that the second complaint P made against her classmate too did not go down well with the institute.

However, Kainthola has refuted these allegations. In a statement sent to us, he said, “In the light of the above facts, the allegation is wild and imaginary. It begs credibility. This is an attempt to cover up her act of professional fraud for which she was found guilty by the Inquiry Committee. Through her statement, she has tried to obfuscate matters by mixing up two unconnected issues involving her. Any complaint of sexual harassment from a teacher, staff or student is taken with the seriousness it rightfully deserves. Once the ICC submits its report to the institute, who acts entirely in accordance with the recommendations in the Report. The one-sided statement released by the student is highly misleading. There is no connection between the case dealt with by the ICC (the misbehavior by a male classmate) and the one where she was proceeded against. It was discovered that she had taken unauthorised external assistance to complete her academic dialogue film exercise.”

According to the director, a committee was set up to enquire into the matter and it was found that she had attempted to bypass the norms and discipline of the ‘dialogue film’ exercise. “She had shown scant respect for her department, including the direction department mentor appointed for this exercise. The committee concluded that the ‘case is of serious breach of trust, lack of respect, breaking of norms, severe disregard for general and academic discipline her’. Further, the Committee recommended ‘strict disciplinary action against her, in the form of non-granting of any kind of scholarships, non-participation in any kind of students’ exchange programme and nonparticipation of her dialogue film or further exercises and projects in any Film Festival till the end of her academic tenure at FTII’,” said Kainthola.

He further added that the committee had also ‘strongly recommended that the student be expelled from all academic activities for a specific period’. “In accordance with the recommendations of the Committee, FTII initiated action against the student,” said Kainthola.

However, the student claimed that she was given a clean chit verbally by the second Inquiry Committee on her work project in March. “But then I was told that there was a third committee setup after five days, that found me guilty. I feel this is all interlinked and the institute is harassing me for standing up against irregularities. Even now I don’t know who has filed a complaint against me. I never received the transcripts of what had happened in these three committees,” she said.

Adding to this, Kunjila shared, “Being a film student myself, I know whatever ‘professional fraud’ P has been alleged of is not that serious. There are others who have done much worse and have not been given such a strong punishment. This is all linked somewhere.”

Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; December 15, 2017)

Two days ago, Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Maneka Gandhi wrote letters to a segment of Bollywood about the law on sexual harassment at work. Her office said they were penned to ensure that production houses provide a secure environment for their female employees. The recipients included the top brass of filmmakers and producers such as Aditya Chopra, Karan Johar, Anurag Kashyap, Ekta Kapoor, Vinod Chopra, Mahesh Bhatt, Shah Rukh Khan, Sooraj Barjatya, Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar, Anil Ambani, Sajid Nadiadwala, Aamir Khan, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Ashutosh Gowariker, Manish Mundra, Pritish Nandy, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Subhash Ghai.

The letter was meant to inform production houses about the provisions of the Sexual Harassment of Women (Prevention, Prohibition Redressal) Act 2013 so that they can implement it immediately. And, of course, in turn, the idea was to provide a safe and secure atmosphere for women at work.

After Hrs tried to reach out to most of the makers whose offices have reportedly received the letter seeking their response. While a veteran producer chose to reply with “no comments”, many others said they were yet to read the letter and would be in a position to give their response only after that. There were some producers who didn’t wish to go on record. Ever since the Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment case made headlines across the globe, Bollywood celebrities have constantly been asked their reactions to this misconduct. Speaking of his concern to keep women safe, Aamir had earlier told a section of the media, “I think sexual harassment is a sad thing to happen to anyone, irrespective of what your sex is. Sexual harassment is just not on,” he said when asked about the Harvey case.

Such cases, he had said, happened not just in the world of films, but in other areas, too. “I understand that people are free to be romantically involved with whoever they want. But you cannot pressure a person into being with you physically. It happens not only in films but in all walks of life and is very unfortunate,’’ he added.

Earlier this month, Salman Khan had said on a public forum, “It is a disgusting practice to use somebody to take advantage of any person in return for getting them work. I’ve never heard anybody say it out loud but if I do, then I will take them to the cleaners.”

When After Hrs contacted Ajit Andhare, CEO of Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, he said, “This is a procedure which we follow committee-wide, in every department. It is done as per the Vishakha committee guidelines. We deal with it in an organised manner.”

Krishika Lulla, Managing Director and Executive Vice Chairman of Eros International commented, “We are blessed because we don’t have such workers working with us. Also our CEO, our marketing head and our PR head — all are women. There are a lot of other women working at different positions in the company. So we are very vigilant about all this. If anyone has a problem, they are open to speaking about it and we take action immediately. We have always been protective of them. I, being a woman, understand this and we know how to handle such situations.”

Subhash K Jha (DNA; April 12, 2017)

Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi, while addressing a gathering on rising violence against women at Goa Fest 2017 in Panaji, blamed movies for promoting sexual harassment.

It was a sentiment echoed by a few viewers, who had criticised the recently released Badrinath Ki Dulhania for glamourising stalking.

Not too long ago, an Indian security guard accused of stalking even avoided a conviction in an Australian court after blaming his actions on a passion for Bollywood movies.

Maneka said that movies have always portrayed the idea of sexually harassing a woman in order to win her love. According to her, such portrayals could actually promote violence against women.

We asked a few actresses if this was the case. Here’s what they had to say...

Pooja Bhatt
Bollywood, Hollywood and advertising objectifies women. In most instances, it is not the cause of crimes against women and the absence of it cannot be the cure either. Crimes against women (which I label violence against women) begins in the womb for most Indian women as most people would rather abort a female foetus and hope for a male heir. This was around since before Bollywood existed.

Pooja Bedi
Maneka sounds just like the Khap Panchayat guy who blamed mini skirts for rape. Or the idiots who say chow mein and mobile phones are responsible for rape. Criminals are responsible for rape. A decent good man would never commit atrocities against women. By her logic, every man on the Censor Board should be a heinous threat to women since he sees films and that, too, without cuts.

Shabana Azmi
It’s a sweeping generalisation to say that every Indian film shows romance that starts with stalking. Definitions change with times and in today’s lingo, a few films do show stalking as a legitimate precursor to romance. This needs to change and should start with actors being sensitised to their responsibilities as artists. No does not mean yes after a while! No means no! PERIOD! Young filmmakers like Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap and Dibakar Banerjee feel strongly about this and have taken a conscious decision along with others to not legitimise stalking in their films.”

Renuka Shahane, who faced flak for her Salman Khan post, reveals she’s been on social media since 2008 and isn’t going to get off any time soon
Jane Borges (MID-DAY; August 28, 2016)

It's 5.30 in the evening, and we are dot on time for our interview with actress Renuka Shahane at a posh, suburban club. Still occupied in a meeting that we were forewarned about, she answers our phone call, but pushes in a request, "Could you please wait for five minutes?" When her engagement ends 20 minutes later, the actress is sincerely apologetic, and though not required, makes it a point to explain what caused the hold-up. She's the same person, who a month ago, refused to say sorry or cow down to loyal fans of actor Salman Khan, when she created a stir with a Facebook post that questioned the Bollywood superstar's acquittal in the chinkara poaching case.

While the post won her over 10,000 likes, and more than 3,100 shares, with comments oscillating between "brave woman" to "shame on you lady", the Marathi actress, tells us now, in the most of matter-of-fact way, "It was just my opinion, on my timeline."

"And, I have been doing that ever since I discovered social media, way back in 2008," she informs. "I find Facebook a great platform to put my thoughts out. It's not restrictive like Twitter, where you have only 140 characters to say what you feel," she says.

That it took an "anti-Khan" post to race the face of TV's most popular cultural show Surabhi, back in the limelight, is not lost on her. "People thought I was doing it for publicity," she says. "Do I need it?" she asks, and immediately follows it with an affirmative, "No!"

Despite a few acting projects that keep her busy, 49-year-old Shahane, who is married to award-winning actor Ashutosh Rana and is mother to two sons Shauryaman and Satyendra, likes to describe herself as a full-time homemaker, and a content one at that too. Having an opinion, she says, comes naturally to her, thanks to her mother, veteran writer, theatre critic and journalist Shanta Gokhale. "Her core values of honesty, non-discrimination and independent thinking, have passed down to me," says Shahane.

Only last week, she made news again, when she robustly opposed the use of fairness creams. "Achievement has nothing to do with the colour of any body's skin!!! So stop watching the regressive, moronic, simpering, over made-up women & their inconsequential, irritating male counterparts in our daily soaps on tv & get a reality check about what we as Indians have been achieving (sic)," she wrote, possibly taking a dig at her own fraternity.

Her views, sometimes angry, often thought-provoking have made her a talking point of late. "All we need today is for one post to go viral, and then suddenly people watch out for what you have to say," she says, while referring to the Khan post. "But, honestly, I did not see this coming," she insists.

Here was an actress, who had once played Khan's doting bhabhi in the 1994 family drama Hum Aapke Hain Koun, and was now being openly critical about his acquittal, when most of Bollywood was rallying around the actor. "This had nothing to do with Salman, the actor," she clarifies. "I have worked with him before, and he is genuinely one of the most generous and kindest people I have met." "I was questioning the legal system. The courts are one place where we expect justice, but are we getting that? Yes, I asked if money had exchanged hands...but it is not the first time that anyone has asked these questions,"
she says.

While her views resonated with some, Shahane wasn't prepared for the brickbats, she received. "I get trolled on Twitter constantly, and sometimes for the most harmless opinions. People have something negative to say about the most positive of things."

Her trolls spiralled when she published her thoughts on the chinkara case on July 25. "Salman's fans were so upset with me. They said illogical things, and took personal digs at me. One person was extremely mean and called me a 'prostitute'. I had to register a complaint with Maneka Gandhi, who only recently urged women harassed on social media, to contact her directly on her Twitter handle," she says. "The problem is that when you are a blind follower of anybody, it results in being nasty towards anybody who might not conform to your view," she says.

However, the issue here, she says, is being a woman and having an opinion. "People don't like intelligent women on social media, especially Twitter," she says. "Misogyny is the riding force. I told my husband that if you had said the very thing that I said (on Khan), you wouldn't have been abused the way I was. It is expected of men to have strong opinions, but when it comes to a woman, people can be down right nasty."

But, has it stopped her from voicing her thoughts? "Definitely, not," she says. "Why should you take sh**t from anybody? My opinions are not uninformed, and I seriously put a lot of thought into what I say. I come from a family of writers, and I write too. I am not just the 'sweet-smiling' person you see on screen. You can't be quiet because you fear receiving a lot of flak. Then, social change will never happen."

That brings us to what keeps Shahane busy these days. "Writing," she smiles. Shahane, who wrote her first screenplay for the Marathi film Rita (adapted from her mother's fiction), is currently in the midst of writing the screenplay for an English-Marathi film, which she intends to direct next year. "I manage to spare time for my writing, after my kids go to school because once they are at home, I am around them," she says. She just wrapped the Marathi show Comedychi Bullet Train, where she was one of the judges. But, for now, she'd like to take it slow. "I am glad that I can articulate the serious part of me, which is related to my mind," she says. "It's nice to be appreciated, and it's okay to be not, either."

Kasmin Fernandes (MID-DAY; July 15, 2016)

A Twitter user, who goes by the handle @SRKMyCondom, made singer Sona Mohapatra as well as ex Bigg Boss contestant and celebrity hairstylist Sapna Bhavnani the target of trolling along with a vulgar, photoshopped image of Shah Rukh Khan. Sapna retweeted the offensive image to her 37.7k followers and followed it up with a barrage of tweets on July 12 and 13 with the hashtag, #IamTrolledHelp. The hairstylist even tagged the Mumbai police and Maneka Gandhi, Union Minister for Women and Child Development, in her tweet and complained to Twitter with regard to violent threats and abusive behaviour. The microblogging site, however, didn’t find it in violation of any “rules”.

Says Sapna, “I wanted this account to be suspended. Twitter initially told me it was not violating any guidelines. Since I tagged Menaka Gandhi and the Mumbai Police, this user started tagging them too, but it backfired for him. Ever since I spoke out against Salman Khan for his ‘rape’ comment, I face trolls every day. But, they don’t bother me and I don’t block those profiles; I just report them. However, that picture and the tweet was so vile and distasteful, I tagged Maneka Gandhi in the retweet, but there has been no response from her yet.”

The troll’s account was suspended on July 13 and Sapna posted a jubilant tweet, “Small victory! These accounts cannot just be blocked. They hv to 2 reported. No one has the right 2 speak like that (sic)”. Meanwhile, Sona has retweeted Sapna’s posts. She says, “There is a clear line between freedom of expression and targeted obscene harassment and it is critical that community guidelines be followed in the virtual world, just like the real world. I feel bad that Sapna got dragged into this since I had posted a pic of us in the gym and the Salman controversy was still raging.” SRK was unavailable for comment.

Hiren Kotwani (BOMBAY TIMES; August 4, 2014)

Parag Maniar (BOMBAY TIMES; May 16, 2014)