#MeToo movement: Women filmmakers resolve not to work with any proven offender

New Delhi: As a fallout of the upsurge in the ‘#Me Too movement’ in the country, several women filmmakers have come together to resolve not to work with any proven offender in cases of sexual harassment against women.

As many as 11 women Indian filmmakers, including Alankrita Shrivastava, Gauri Shinde, Kiran Rao, Konkona Sen Sharma, Meghna Gulzar, Nandita Das, Nitya Mehra, Reema Kagti, Ruchi Narain, Shonali Bose and Zoya Akhtar on Sunday came together to support the movement in India, saying they have taken a stand to not work with proven offenders.

In a joint statement, The filmmakers said, ‘as women and filmmakers, we come together to support the #Me Too lndia movement. We are in complete solidarity with the women who have come forward with honest accounts of harassment and assault. Our respect and admiration to them as their courage has started a revolution of welcome change.’

“We are here to spread awareness to help create a safe and equal atmosphere for all in the workplace. We have also taken a stand to not work with proven offenders. We urge all our peers in the industry to do the same,’ the statement added.

There has been an upsurge in the ‘#Me Too movement ‘ after actor Tanushree Dutta levelled allegations against Nana Patekar about an incident dating back to 2008.

Since then, a number of women have come forward with complaints against names like Alok Nath, Rajat Kapoor, Subhash Ghai, Vikas Bahl, Subhash Kapoor, Kailash Kher and Sajid Khan.

The unraveling of the incidents has seen Aamir Khan stepping out of a project which was to be directed by Subhash Kapoor, Akshay Kumar asking the producers of ‘Housefull 4’, which was being directed by Sajid and co-starred Nana, to cancel the shoot until “further investigation”, and Hrithik Roshan urging the producers of Bahl’s ‘Super 30’ to take a hard stand.

As a fallout of the movement, Sajid has been replaced as ‘Housefull 4’ director by Farhad Samji. (UNI)