Seen it happen: Preeti on sexual harassment in Bollywood

After a decade-long career in Bollywood and regional films, actor Preeti Jhangiani had been missing in action for many years. However, she is all set to return to Bollywood with a comic satire. While Preeti is kicked about her comeback after almost five years, one can’t overlook the fact that she was an outsider in the film industry when she made her debut in Mohabbatein (2000).

So, with the #MeToo movement gaining traction, we asked her if she, too, faced any sort of sexual harassment at any stage of her career?

“Fortunately, I did not have to,” says the actor, adding, “The people I’ve worked with have mostly been good banners, and very fabulous family people, like (filmmaker) JP Dutta. Also, my parents were always along with me. I was very young, I didn’t have a manager tagging along with me, bringing projects. Plus, I didn’t have that burning ambition to make it big.”

Preeti doesn’t shy away from calling her experience somewhat different. “Maybe my experience has been a little different, but it is a fact that it (sexual harassment) does happen in our industry. I have seen it happening in front of me... not my co-stars but with people who were not bigger actors. It hasn’t happened with me personally. I don’t have a story to share with you. But it’s wrong to say (to people who have been revealing their experiences), ‘Why are you coming out now?’ If they would have come out at that time, they would have been the ones to suffer. Now, the story is different.”

Her journey, compared to other newcomers, was relatively easy.

“I was 16 or 17, and had bunked college to go for a film audition. Then I got an ad, and my pictures got circulated at a production house office. And for my first Hindi film Mohabbatein, I didn’t have to give any screen test,” Preeti concludes.

PHOTO: PRODIP GUHA/HT