Malaika Arora Speaks Out on The Tanushree Dutta – Nana Patekar Sexual Harassment Case, Says We Need to Clap For Her

Malaika Arora talks about the Tanushree Dutta - Nana Patekar case in detail. She supports the actress for refusing to face harassment and also highlights the root cause behind sexual assault

Tanushree Dutta made sexual harassment allegations against actor Nana Patekar a few days back. The former actress, popular for her roles in films like Chocolate (2005) and Aashiq Banaya Aapne (2005), had also called out Bollywood for not lending support to her. However, later, prominent faces like Farhan Akhtar, Priyanka Chopra, Sonam Kapoor, Anurag Kashyap, Swara Bhasker, Deepika Padukone, and Ranveer Singh among others spoke out on the issue. Now, actress Malaika Arora, too, has raised her voice in support of Tanushree Dutta.

In her interview with DNA, the actress has mentioned how it’s important that a society’s mindset towards perceiving a woman’s character changes to make them feel more comfortable. In her statements to the daily, she has also asserted that what Tanushree is doing is absolutely right, fearless and one should listen to her.

She criticised people and the media for questioning why Tanushree chose to speak after 10 years, and said, “I’ve been following Tanushree’s case. What makes me sad is that people, and even the media, have been highly irresponsible as far as this incident is concerned. These are times where you should have a united front. I didn’t like the fact that many of them were questioning her about why she spoke 10 years later. How does it matter whether she spoke then or now? The fact that she’s speaking up should be respected”.

She added, “Obviously, it’s something that she’s dealt with a lot, over a period of time. That upset me the most. We should appreciate and applaud the fact that somebody’s finally sharing their story”.

Malaika also mentioned that often women think they will lose out on their career if they speak and that’s something that needs to be changed. She said, “Women feel that if they speak up, they will jeopardise their career and everybody will cast aspersions on their character. The first step is to talk, but unfortunately, if you do so, you are vilified for it or made to feel less of a person. We need to clap for her (Tanushree) for being able to overcome this hurdle”.

The Hello-Hello girl linked the harassment at workplaces to how men have been traditionally groomed in the country. She said, “No (the change can’t happen overnight), because it stems from a certain pre-conditioning, whether it’s lack of education or the ‘ladka kabhi galat nahin kar sakta’ (a man can’t do any wrong) norm we follow. That’s the kind of society we live in. Agar problem hai toh ladki ki hi galti hai (if there is a problem, a woman must be responsible for it). She must have worn a small skirt or gone out late at night. Nobody turns around and blames the guy. Once that changes, you’ll hopefully see a lot of transformation in the country”.

Well, kudos to Malaika for speaking out! Too many opinions and experience… we just hope all this get combined to trigger some real action in the matter!