Schwimmer fights against sexual abuse

American actor David Schwimmer (right), best known for playing the character Ross Geller in the sitcom Friends, stars in one of six short videos released on Monday as part of the campaign, #Thatsharassment. He’s also one of the executive producers for the project. The 50-year-old actor teamed up with Israeli director Sigal Avin, who last year released short videos, based on reallife incidents of sexual harassment. For both Schwimmer and Avin, the issue is dear to their hearts, due to personal experiences. Schwimmer, who has a six-year-old daughter, said that he had grown concerned after hearing “countless stories” of sexual harassment. “Every woman in my family, in my life, has been harassed,” he said, adding, “The problem is that people don’t step forward or say something, if they’re witnessing it because of fear of retaliation.” One of the videos, titled The Co-worker, features a male bartender telling his female colleague about drunk customers making lewd comments about “grabbing” women by the genitals. Though an apparent reference to U.S. President Donald Trump’s boast in a 2005 video about grabbing women’s genitals, Schwimmer dismissed any such claims. “This is not a partisan liberal Hollywood throwing their arms up against the Trump’ issue,” he said. “Every woman, no matter what her political beliefs are, is subject to sexual harassment.” In another video, The Boss, Schwimmer plays an office worker who claims to show his appreciation to a reluctant assistant by kissing her. The videos, available on Facebook, also feature actors Cynthia Nixon best known from the TV series, Sex in the City, Emmy Rossum from U.S. comedy series, Shameless and Cristela Alonzo from sitcom Cristela.

She began her television career with the family sitcom Dekh Bhai Dekh in 1993, and went on to make a permanent place in the hearts of TV audiences with her bubbly character, Sweety Mathur, in Hum Paanch. Actor Rakhi Vijan (above) says a lot has changed in the industry since then. “Economically, it has become better. Earlier, it was only about fashion and a few iconic, symbolic shows. The working pattern, too, has become more professional, and the creativity quotient has gone up, but so has the competition. In 1997, we used to deliver one episode a week. Now, you have to deliver an episode every day,” says Rakhi, who’s part of a daily soap on TV. From a comic character to one with grey shades, the actor has experimented with roles, but Sweety remains close to her heart. “It was my favourite! I loved playing Sweety because the character had a lot of variation. A character with low IQ is tough to play. There is a thin line between being funny and irritating others. It was a challenge and I thought I did well... I loved my other show, Heena, too, where I did a negative role. It was a first for me, and I enjoyed it,” says Rakhi.

In 1997, we used to deliver one episode a week. Now, you have to deliver an episode every day RAKHI VIJAN, ACTOR