KALKI OPENS UP ON SEXUAL ABUSE IN HINDI FILM INDUSTRY

Kalki Koechlin has spoken about varied issues in the past from pay disparity in Bollywood to the kind of roles actresses are offered.  While the industry may seem like the perfect place, sadly it isn't. There are numerous underlying scandals that still persist in the industry, just that we choose to ignore them.

Kalki spoke about one of the most prevalent issues, that of sexual abuse, in the industry. She said there are women who face sexual abuse in the film industry but people often turn a blind eye to them as they are not famous or successful. “I don’t think we provide an environment to our women to speak up about sexual abuse, we only listen to people once they are successful or famous. There are a lot of women who are at the struggling stages of their career who talk about these things but no one will listen to their story," said Kalki in an interview with PTI. Only the successful artist's voice is heard in the industry and that's the sad part about it.

Kalki feels that rather than merely discussing these issues, it's important we aim at creating a comfortable environment for the women. She further added,“We are harping on the Harvey Weinstein issue which happened in LA while we have our own issues — the incidents at High Spirits in Pune, or the TVF incident (its CEO Arunabh Kumar was accused of molesting a woman). You hear about these things for half a day and then it is gone. We need to take responsibility for our own stories. I feel it’s about time we start listening to them.” Though, the actress says that nobody will try and do this to her at this point in time. “I don’t think anyone will dare to try and do anything with me. But there is mental coercion, texts messages at 2 am, that kind of things happen sometimes.

The only possible solution to this problem is that we must resolve in making this place a safer one for women and that can't be done with ignorance, the issue got to be acknowledged.