The #MeToo movement brought out the ugly side of Hollywood and led to the downfall of several powerful men, but Tanushree Dutta says such a thing should happen in Bollywood so that she can get justice for an incident that she claimed happened in 2008.
In a recent TV interview, Dutta reiterated her claim that a veteran actor had misbehaved with her on the sets of a film. During the interview, she also alleged that the actor had the tacit support of the film's makers.
"They called me a slut, an unprofessional.. when I spoke about it eight to ten years back. Nobody has right to say anything to me," Dutta told PTI.
Recounting the incident and its aftermath, she claimed, "When I tried to escape they called the media, they called some people to mob lynch and attack my car. My parents were there inside and even I was inside, it was horrific. So from harassment situation to a mob lynching situation..."
"They made sure that we did not escape from the studio, they locked the gates and then the cops came and they got us out... So when we filed the police report, they filed a counter complaint and because of the counter FIR, my dad, hair dresser and spot boy had to go through so much harassment over the next couple of years."
Dutta said there is social stigma and character assassination that a person goes through when she talks or tries to talk about such incidents.
The actor said she wants to spread a message through her story so that other women get encouraged to share their stories.
"This is not for me. I live In America, I am busy with life. My approach is like an American in a way, so I am okay with talking about it. This is for the benefit of others... Here is a person who spoke ten years ago, taking names and shames, doing it now also. This is like providing strength. Like to see justice done, for example for rest of the country, like stop working with these actors."
"I am not doing it for hidden agenda. These things are happening so it is like encouraging others. This I hope encourages people," Dutta said.
She lamented that the impact that #MeToo had in Hollywood was not felt in Bollywood as actors have packaged themselves as "saints" here.
"These film actors in our country know the technology of how to package and present themselves so they come across as saintly and people don't know what is happening behind their back. People keep mum because of this ideology that this person had a name so how do we speak against this person," she said.