Being a commoner who goes to office at a routine time, has to fix dinner and groceries after coming back in the evening and depends on social media pages of news channels; I can safely say that there hasn’t been a day when I haven’t come across the news of rape. All of them have made my blood boil and there has always been anger in my eyes. However, this case has broken many more myths than just ‘roads are not safe’ or ‘you shouldn’t wander on New Year’s Eve alone’.
We had started feeling good for women, knowing that there still exists good web content. We could correlate with the stories and especially the characters, because they seemed to be one of us, struggling among the routine knots of life, juggling between things and still trying to remain their coolest self. I binge watched quite a lot of TVF web series even though convincing me for such shows is difficult as I have so many pending tasks to complete. So, something that consumes my time has to have some meaning. And these web series, short videos and podcasts, brought our trivial emotions, daily battles, love fights, relationship crisis and everything that an average person goes through daily, on screen.
It felt relaxing that there are a bunch of people to bring something fresh, which is not dipped in cliched concepts. Like many of you, I too have stalked many artists religiously after getting introduced to the label. However, it is utterly sickening to discover stuff like this, that even what felt right and genuine is blotted from within. That this also couldn’t escape the coarse reality of today’s society. That this also is no exception in the context of the conventional ‘image’ of the media houses. So should I cement this fact in my mind, that there is no safe spot at such places where men and women have to come forward and collaborate shoulder-to-shoulder to make creative content?
However, what is more saddening is the way the channel came back, lashing out at the person who posted about being repeatedly assaulted quite elaborately. Why did your clarification statement smell like a criminal act itself? You threatened to hunt down that person and reach him/ her to a justice that you wished for. Didn’t thousands or millions of fans expect for a more substantial response in a humbler tone? Did the praise you collected get into your head? Did you forget to be rational while addressing the public statement that you made?
This is how you justify your cheap actions with just one sentence, saying that you are a heterosexual single man and freely call women ‘sexy’ around you? Aren’t you sounding synonymous with those aged notorious politicians who call it a genuine mistake if a young lad gets raunchy around girls of his age? While many serious questions are yet to be answered and the air to be cleared around the matter, this episode has shaken me to the core. I am not sure if I am going to boycott the channel right now and forever. But am sure I won’t be able to look at the same faces with the same excitement again because they all represent the same entity for me! Shame!
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