Koffee With Karan 6: Aamir Khan Talks About #MeToo Movement and Being the First One in the Industry to Take an Action
After skipping the topic for two episodes, KWK finally talked about Bollywood's #MeToo movement.
The third episode of Koffee with Karan 6 featured Aamir Khan as the guest. The actor unabashedly admitted that he was there to promote his upcoming film, Thugs of Hindostan. That's fine, as you would not expect Karan Johar's show to get any serious anyway. But it did get serious this time. After skipping the topic for two episodes, KWK finally talked about Bollywood's #MeToo movement. Aamir was more than willing to talk about the movement and even acknowledged that he was one of the first to take an action against an alleged predator.
Aamir had walked out of one of his upcoming projects, Mogul, after its director Subhash Kapoor was accused of sexual misconduct by an actress. The actor and his wife, Kiran Rao, released statements confessing the same, albeit without taking names of the director and the film. "I was aware of the responsibility on Kiran and me. Also, there were a lot of things. If the person is innocent, I do not know how will I live with myself because I would have finished the person off. I carry that burden and I think about it every night," Aamir Khan said, once again without any names. #MeToo Movement: Sajid Khan Denies All Sexual Misconduct Allegations in His Reply to IFTDA.
Aamir also said, "First of all, this kind of exploitation women have been facing for decades, centuries and not just in films, in life. And it’s really awful that any human being should be degraded in any manner, should be pressurised in any manner, misused in any manner and preyed upon. It is really heartbreaking. I am glad there is a clean up happening and women are having strength to speak about it. I wish our films did not encourage this kind of behaviour. A lot of societies in the world are patriarchal. India is one of them and the way we objectify women in our films, I have said it on my show Satyamev Jayate, I have done it. I have sung a song “Khambe Jaisi Khadi Hai”. Literally, objectifying women in every sentence. So, it is awful that we have been doing it. You know, it took me a while to realise that what I am doing is not just fun. It impacts society. I realised when all of it was coming out. People I have spoken to have told me that they have been hearing stories about so and so for years. I am shocked that this person could be like that. Never occurred to me that a person could be so predatory in nature. The more I am listening about it, I am realising it is quite rampant. That is really awful and disturbing.”
Following Aamir's call to walk of the film, Subhash Kapoor was dropped from the film. Post which, Housefull 4 also dropped director Sajid Khan and actor Nana Patekar, both of whose names had surfaced in the wake of the #MeToo movement.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 05, 2018 12:42 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).