Actress Tanushree Dutta has written a short film titled Inspiration, based on #MeToo allegations made by women against celebrities in Bollywood. Tanushree plays the role of a ‘guardian angel’ who helps others make the right decision to speak up about sexual harassment in cinema.
According to a Midday report, she said, “The film deals with the issue of wilful exploitation of young newcomers in showbiz or any other field where they don’t have mentors or guidance… I wrote the dialogues, inspired by my own insight and understanding on the matter.” When asked if the film would tell real stories, she said, “It is a new format where reality meets fiction.”
The idea for the short film came to her last year when the #MeToo movement gained momentum. Atul Bhalla was approached to direct the film, and the shoot happened during her 8-month holiday in India. She was approached by the online content platform Ullu to produce the film. It is set to release on the digital platform this International Women’s Day, March 8.
Tanushree was the first to speak up about sexual harassment in Bollywood during #MeToo in 2018. A decade before this she had walked out of the sets of Horn Ok Please after accusing actor Nana Patekar of sexually harassing her on the set. Nana Patekar refused these allegations. This was widely reported but the news soon died down. She then took a break from films and moved to the US.
When MeToo movement was on the rise in Hollywood last year, she was asked if Hindi cinema would speak up. She said, “We are not going to have one (MeToo movement) until what happened 10 years ago is acknowledged, addressed and brought to justice.” Following this, many actors and journalists spoke about their experiences of harassment on sets.
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Big names in Bollywood like Sajid Khan, Rajkumar Hirani, Vikas Bahl, Kailash Kher, Alok Nath, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Anu Malik were called out for harassment. Women filmmakers in Hindi cinema asked others not to work with those accused till the allegations were proven wrong. Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar and Hrithik Roshan were among those who signed off films.
Simultaneously in the south, Parvathy Nair, Cinmayi Sripada, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Shruti Hariharan called out Vairamuthu, Radha Ravi John Vijay, Gopi Sundar and others.
Feature image courtesy NDTV.com