Speaking at a roundtable hosted by film critic Rajeev Masand, actress Sonam Kapoor said that she had been molested as a child. The conversation included some of Bollywood’s biggest female stars this year – Alia Bhatt (Udta Punjab, Dear Zindagi), Anushka Sharma (Sultan, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil), Sonam Kapoor (Neerja), Vidya Balan (Kahaani 2) and Radhika Apte (Phobia, Parched).
Sonam Kapoor said, “I know I have been molested when I was younger. And it was very traumatising.” Vidya Balan responded, “It is not her fault and that is the biggest thing a victim deals with.”
The full episode will be aired on December 18.
Alia Bhatt, who hails from a family of Bollywood stars said, “We really do live in a bubble. Our reality is not reality.” A 2013 report by the Asian Centre for Human Rights, titled India’s Hell Holes, found that child sexual abuse had reached epidemic levels.
According to Mumbai-based nonprofit Majlis Legal Centre, the problem of sexual violence cannot be looked at in isolation. Speaking to the International Business Times, director Audrey D’Mello had said, “It is connected to a terribly exploitative environment that takes advantage of the women and girls at every possible stage, in every facet of their lives.”
Bollywood actresses have recently begun to speak against a culture of sexism at all levels, including in Bollywood.
Earlier in August, Sonam Kapoor criticised Bollywood for being patriarchal, and said that women were routinely judged on how they looked, and whether they were pregnant or not; not by what they were capable of. This week, Sunny Leone told the BBC that there was more sexism in Bollywood than in the porn industry. Leone, who was a porn star before making a successful career in Bollywood, is on BBC’s list of 100 most influential women of 2016.
Kalki Koechlin seemed to agree.
When #SunnyLeone says #Bollywood is more sexist than #porn industry | https://t.co/miATOMQkIX pic.twitter.com/HsL0PaC0WY
— DailyO (@DailyO_) December 13, 2016
Kalki Koechlin was one of the first Bollywood stars to break the silence when she told Humans Of Bombay that she was sexually abused at the age of nine. She said she had chosen to speak so it would be easier for other survivors to come forward. She said, “The reason I spoke out about my sexual abuse is not to get people to feel sorry for me but to give others who have had similar circumstances the confidence to talk about it. I allowed someone to have sex with me at the age of nine, not understanding fully what it meant and my biggest fear after was that my mother would find out. I felt it was my mistake and so I kept it hidden for years. If I had had the confidence or awareness to confide in my parents it would have saved me years of complexes about my own sexuality. It’s important that parents remove the taboo around the word sex or private parts so kids can speak openly and be saved from potential abuse.”
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Women’s rights activists have criticised aspects of the POCSO (Protection Of Children From Sexual Offences) Act 2012 which prohibit “all sexual activity for children below 18”. Breakthrough Trust director Sunita Menon told the International Business Times, “Sexuality isn’t talked about openly in Indian society. There is no healthy way for people to talk, learn or practice sexuality in a healthy environment. It is hidden, suppressed,”
Celebrities like Sonam and Kalki talking about their struggles openly could go a long way towards creating a healthy environment for debate, and eventually, change.