KARACHI: The year 2018 has been a whirlwind and a half. From celebrity feuds to the rise of #MeToo, we may have seen more than we bargained for in these last 12 months.
But the drama isn’t over just yet. Even as we are getting ready to say goodbye to 2018, there are headlines being made with regards to… yes, you guessed it: #MeToo.
The latest round-table conference by Indian journalist Rajeev Masand featured some of Bollywood’s biggest female stars: Deepika Padukone, Anushka Sharma, Alia Bhatt, Tabu, Rani Mukerji and Tapsee Pannu. Now, this seems like quite a reasonable group of women, capable enough of having a decent conversation, right?
Well, we’re not too sure anymore. During the show, the topic of sexual harassment within Bollywood came up and while most of the guests had something worthy to say, one person in particular had a completely different viewpoint.
Rani shocked fans and co-stars alike with her (rather peculiar) perspective. While the rest focused on the root causes of #MeToo and how things can change if men were raised differently, the Hichhki star was adamant that it is women who need to change.
Anushka countered her statement by questioning why it should always be women that need to change but the former wasn’t having any of it. Rani stated that instead of pointing the finger at men, women should “take responsibility for themselves” because “you can’t tell mothers how to bring up their children.” She also said women should learn to defend themselves and be courageous enough to support themselves.
The star even went as far as saying that, “Everything that happens to you, relates to what YOU want out of your life.” Erm… Sorry what? Is Rani really trying to say that some people who are harassed might actually WANT to be harassed? Surely not.
That’s not even the worst bit though. While Deepika tried to talk some sense into the Mardaani actor by explaining that not all women are constructed to be able to defend themselves and handle such situations with ease, Rani thought best to show off her martial arts moves and was too busy making karate chop sounds. That was beyond ignorant to say the least.
It’s nice to know that we’re not the only ones who found Black star’s notions bizarre. Twitter users flooded the platform with countless memes and tweets, questioning what in the world Rani was talking about?
“I think Rani Mukherjee should take a cue from her husband and shun appearances with such archaic views,” said one user. “First Preity Zinta and now, Rani Mukherjee. Journalists, please please do not ask any other 90s actresses about #MeTooIndia. I can’t see them all ruining their image and fall so low,” wrote another.
It wasn’t all bad though. Surprisingly, some fans did come to Rani’s defense. “So I saw that clip. And I could be wrong, but Rani says train women in self defense and Deepika says you shouldn’t even have a situation where the answer is train women in martial arts. So I didn’t get particularly outraged because they are both right,” stated a fan.
This was followed by another writing, “Yes. Rani Mukerji is not wrong. It’s like saying we don’t need police because ideally, people shouldn’t be committing crimes.” Well, that’s one way of looking at it.
