I genuinely hoped from the bottom of my heart that in 2019, everyone, especially people occupying positions of political and non-political power, would open their mouths for the right reasons. But it didn’t take long to be proven wrong, by none other than Rani Mukerji, while she spoke at Rajeev Masand’s 2018 Bollwood Round Table. Commenting on the #MeToo movement, her exact words were, “I think as a woman you have to be that powerful within yourself, you have to believe that you’re so powerful that if you ever come into a situation like that, you have the courage to say ‘back off.’ I think you have to have the courage to be able to protect yourself. You have to take responsibility for your own self.” She made a few more non-nonsensical statements which I choose not to quote.
It is extremely problematic when we have celebrities, who have been given the opportunity to speak on a sensitive issue on a platform which has over a million viewers, make downright derogatory comments that don’t just question their sensibility, but also have the potential to destroy the courage, strength and power many women displayed when they chose to speak about their story, as well as those who supported these women. It is absolutely disgusting to even think that an influential personality like her could even indirectly equate ‘being abused’ to ‘weakness’, because according to her if one cannot fight back her abuser, she should be told that ‘she cannot be felt cornered’ and that she needs to be taught ‘MARTIAL ARTS’, which apparently would be the end of the problem. Wow!
I’m pretty sure she’s got the real life of most women, mixed with her reel life character in the movie ‘Mardani’, conveniently assuming that if one has the skills and knowledge of self-defense, one is sorted. It was quite disappointing to to see that she didn’t stop speaking utter nonsense, even when other actresses tried to intervene to make a sensible point. It goes on to show how her lack of common sense and awareness, coupled with a privileged, glossy life, has blinded her to the miseries of the real world, where every woman has a #MeToo story to share.
To hear statements that demean menstruating women, or those that challenge the courage people show while taking a stand against their perpetrators is irking, because influential women figures such as Smriti Irani and Rani Mukherjee go on record to reaffirm the wrong doings of the society. They indirectly blame and shame the victim, which speaks volumes about them and our society, and also indicates why India has a long, long way to go before it achieves any progress in the real sense of the word. It is 2019, and yet our leaders (in every way) behave like they’re living in the 1960’s.
It would be great if such people educated themselves first before educating others.