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Hollywood stands by Tanushree
Actor Tanushree Dutta has emerged as the voice of India’s #MeToo movement, with Hollywood stars speaking up in her support. Following her allegations of suffering sexual harassment at the hands of veteran actor Nana Patekar, actor Freida Pinto wrote a powerful post on Instagram. She posted: “...I believe Tanushree Dutta!... What you have done is monumental and important and it has to shake the very core of a nation and an ideology that for too long has gotten away with heinous crimes against women...”
Commenting on Freida’s post, actor Olivia Munn also said: “I believe Tanushree Dutta.” Hollywood Insider, an entertainment portal, wrote: “...We are thankful that the #metoo movement has now taken full effect in india… We hope Tanushree receives justice...”
Tanushree has revealed that when she talked about her alleged sexual harassment at Nana’s hands on the sets of Horn Ok Pleassss 10 years ago, no one had supported her. That changed after top Bollywood names such as Priyanka Chopra and Farhan Akhtar recently came out in her support. Many others also tweeted their support.
Freida’s post emphasised that any time was a good time to reveal harassment. “Even if someone speaks up (and in Tanushree’s case, speaks up AGAIN) 10 years later, it doesn’t dilute or nullify a factual, verified, double verified truth. Her story is not a carton of milk that expires after a few days, ready to be discarded,” stated the post.
Also, on Tuesday, Union minister for women and child development Maneka Gandhi said, “We should start something like #MeTooIndia, in which any woman who’s being harassed should write to us and we should investigate. But I know when your body is abused, you remember it always. If there has been any kind of sexual harassment, it is possible to report it through SHebox and we will take action.”