The elephant is in the room and you can't ignore it. Yes, we are discussing casting couch. First off, we detest it. We abhor it. We are for the respect for women, and we want our fellow Bollywood wallas to condemn it as well. So when Ranbir Kapoor was asked to give his take on the casting couch in today's press conference of his much-anticipated  Dutt Biopic, the 35-year-old actor was expected to condemn it to set the record straight. Ranbir had this to say, instead-"I have never faced it. If it's there, it's the worst," said Ranbir, his demeanour remained absolutely poker-faced throughout.

The moment this reaction came from the Kapoor lad, Twitterati decided to slam Ranbir with complete disregard to what looked like a clear attempt to add something to what he had said already.  From being the torch bearer of nepotism to being insensitive-Ranbir was called names almost instantly. It was portrayed as if the question was met with a rather casual remark and everybody had a good laugh. A closer inspection of the video states otherwise.

You can clearly see that Ranbir did NOT laugh at the question at all, to begin with. He simply stated (the fact) that he never faced it. The moment he made that statement, the journos started laughing at his response (probably for the way Ranbir answered that one with his trademark poker-face). It's only when the audience started giggling, producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra was seen laughing too (This could be because he was relieved that Ranbir did not have to face such troubles and he perhaps decided to take Ranbir's candid confession with a pinch of salt).

Mind you it was Ranbir who quickly went on to add that it (casting couch) is the worst (crime/kind?). And just when he was about to add something more to his answer, Chopra quickly discouraged Ranbir from entertaining/discussing the subject further.  How is Ranbir at fault then? Isn't he clearly being made a scapegoat of sorts for saying that he never experienced it? But Twitteratis were in no mood to spare Ranboo and brickbats arrived absolutely unprecedentedly.

It is an undeniable fact that casting couch does exist in the industry, with countless women, as well as men, facing the monster on a regular basis everytime they apply for the role. In this regard, it would have been sensible on Ranbir's part to take the question seriously and give it the much-needed respect it deserved to address the serious issue squarely. But one can't run away from the fact that the conference was held for the aforementioned movie and the makers wanted to refrain from discussing anything but the movie! No harm done!

(The opinions expressed in the above article are of the author and do not reflect the stand or position of LatestLY.)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 24, 2018 05:03 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).