Women filmmakers from Indian film industry have joined hands to support people sharing their stories of sexual harassment and have decided not to work with any proven offender.
Critically-acclaimed directors such as Konkona Sensharma, Nandita Das, Meghna Gulzar, Gauri Shinde, Kiran Rao, Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar are among the eleven women filmmakers who have pledged their support to India's #MeToo movement.
"As women and filmmakers, we come together to support the #MeToolndia movement. We are in complete solidarity with the women who have come forward with honest accounts of harassment and assault. Our respect and admiration to them as their courage has started a revolution of welcome change."
"We are here to spread awareness to help create a safe and equal atmosphere for all in the workplace. We have also taken a stand to not work with proven offenders. We urge all our peers in the industry to do the some," the statement from the directors read.
The list of the female filmmakers also includes Alankrita Shrivastava, Nitya Mehra, Ruchi Narain and Shonali Bose.
In the wake of the #MeToo movement many names from Indian entertainment industry have cropped up in the cases of sexual harassment and misconduct.
Celebrities such as Nana Patekar, Rajat Kapoor, Subhash Kapoor, Alok Nath, Subhash Ghai, Vikas Bahl, Kailash Kher, Sajid Khan, Mukesh Chhabra and comedy group AIB, Aditi Mittal, singer Raghu Dixit, Tamil lyricist-poet Vairamuthu have been named and shamed.
Saif Ali Khan says he stands in solidarity with women
Actor Saif Ali Khan says he stands in solidarity with women sharing their stories of sexual harassment as he understands the pain they have been through.
The Sacred Games star said he faced harassment years ago, even though it was not sexual in nature.
"I have also been harassed in my career, not sexually, but I have been harassed 25 years ago and I am still angry about it," Saif.
"Most people don't understand other people. It is very difficult to understand other people's pain. I don't want to talk about it because I am not important today. Even when I think about what happened with me I still get angry. Today, we have to look after women," he added.
Saif said the offenders must be punished even if they are found guilty in an old case.
"You are removing someone (from the job) and it is a big deal. You are removing a person, but everybody has worked on a project so you have to balance things. People who have sexually harassed and abused women should pay for it."
His co-stars from Humshakals — Bipasha Basu and Esha Gupta — recently opened up about director Sajid Khan's 'rude' behaviour towards women on the sets of the 2014 film.
While Bipasha said she was disturbed with Sajid's attitude towards women, Esha revealed she got into a lot of arguments with him.
Sajid is accused of sexual misconduct by three female actors and a journalist. He has since been replaced by Farhad Samji as the director of Housefull 4.
Recalling his experience during Humshakals, Saif said, "I don't remember anything like this happening genuinely because if it would have happened I would not have been comfortable in that environment or allowed it to happen in front of me."
"I would hate an atmosphere where women are being looked down upon or mistreated in any way. I don't think that's how an atmosphere should be," he added.
Saif, 48, asserted he will not work with those who have been accused of sexual misconduct.
"We all need to have the same attitude. I don't want to work with them. We have to understand that how these people are behaving, it is not ok, it is disgusting."
