Is sex synonymous with rape in Bollywood?
In February last year, actress Geetika Tyagi previously seen in films such as One by Two, What The Fish and Aatma took to Twitter to post the link to a controversial video where she openly accused Jolly LLB director Subhash Kapoor of forcing himself upon her one-and-a-half years ago. The video that seemed to be a spy camera footage revealed a meeting between Kapoor, his wife Dimple Kharbanda and Tyagi, with Atul Sabharwal as a mediator.
In the 31 minutes of footage, Kharbanda is seen begging to keep the fiasco a hushed affair. She fears their son will be traumatised by it. Kapoor, on the other hand, seems to somewhat admit that he had a sort of sexual encounter with Tyagi, but pauses before accepting the blame for forcing himself upon her. At this critical juncture, Tyagi, who uploaded the video, is seen to be hysterically howling. When the camera zooms into the frame, she slaps the director.
"I can't trust any man. I don't have a single friend aajki date mei jissey mai bolun let us have coffee together or go out, sit and talk. Maine bahut bahut suffer kiya hai, Subhash. My own brother-in-law, my own father, my uncles... I'm jittery, I'm always fuc*ing jittery," Tyagi's words echoed strangely even as the din died down a few weeks later, with ace directors like Tigmanshu Dhulia coming out in full public support to tweet: "If the film industry has any heart, they should boycott Atul Sabarwal as he was part of this vicious scheme to demean Subhash Kapoor."
Bollywood is home to the casting couch. With Ram Gopal Varma having once famously declared: "Casting exists, so does the couch." And yet, what is it about this hedonistic trade that makes women so strangely vulnerable to sexual predators, all the time? Why are there no laws specific to this profession that can protect men and women, who would do anything to land a part, a foothold in the door of tinsel town and directors who are always looking for fresh faces and new talent, and must take a million look tests and auditions before making up their mind?
What makes headlines such as these, newsy, but only for a while, till the next case breaks out? And why does the wife or girlfriend of the tainted perpetrator of the sexual crime always accuse the victim of being a gold-digger, labeling the occurrence as yet another cheap publicity stunt?
In a nation breathing sex and violence as an intrinsic part of its popular culture consumption pattern, in films, TV serials, online comedy shows, item songs, in cartoons and in ads, where serial objectification of women is commonplace - are women who are molested and forced to have sex with always going to have to create a scene and scream in public - be a part of "breaking news" to be heard? Or is sexual harassment just a convenient cover-up for more a glaring sexism, increasingly rampant in showbiz, perhaps akin to any other profession, where women are breaking the glass ceiling and starting to threaten male creative supremacy and capability. Why heroines are paid less than heroes? Why married actresses or those after a certain age fail to make the cut? Why botox and lip and nose jobs are mundane rituals? Why is a woman's age always looked down upon? Why married heroes chase younger heroines? Why most affairs are mostly speculations?
One can't help wonder about an actor like Shiney Ahuja, before he raped his maid and was sent to prison. The way he had reportedly indulged in obscene behaviour with costar Sayali Bhagat. Was he a serial womaniser? Why was he never reported, earlier then? Or singer Ankit Tiwari of Aashiqui 2 fame, accused of raping his girlfriend, an event management professional, and arrested later by the Versova police on rape charges, claiming he had broken a marriage promise and allegedly raped the victim in her sister's home when she was alone.
What happened to this case, after it was opened? Did the girl in question come around? Why was there no media follow-up? Why power women like Manisha Koirala who alleged in the early '90s that her mentor filmmaker Subhash Ghai had made sexual advances towards her, never rakes this up now? The reason why '90s leading lady Mamta Kulkarni, who had also alleged director Raj Kumar Santoshi had misused his position and made advances at her, later patched up? Why is it easier to hush up a woman?
What works?
A make-up kiss? A bouquet saying sorry? A promise to star in his next, big-budget film? A foreign holiday? A solitaire? A confession of crimes, in secrecy? Away from the public glare…
What makes sex so "bikao" in Bollywood?
Why is it that more often than not, the men and women in question are those whose morals and reputation, we, as a society, and audience question. Model-turned-actress Payal Rohatgi who reportedly accused director Dibakar Banerjee, of indecent behaviour while auditioning for a role in Shanghai; aspiring actress Preeti Jain who levied criminal charges against national award-winning filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar, claiming he had raped her 16 times on the pretext of casting her in his projects during 1999 to 2004. Canadian citizens Percy Shroff and Jimmy Mistry of North Vancouver who filed a lawsuit against popular Bollywood choreographer Shiamak Davar in British Columbia Supreme Court, Canada, contending that they endured years of "unwanted sexual touching" at his hands, adding that Davar had, "abused his authority as their spiritual leader to control all aspects of their lives".
Why was it easier for even the industry to side with gay director Onir whose sensitive films like My Brother Nikhil and Bus Ek Pal made us cry? Was it because no one had honestly heard about newbie Yuvraaj Parashaar, or Dunno Y… Naa Jaane Kyun, his film, before he accused Onir of sexually assaulting him after having been invited to Onir's apartment in Mumbai to preview his work. Yuvraaj's claim of a drunken Onir forcing him to move to the bedroom and forcing him to have sex, as flimsy as a faded love bite mark on his chest. Vaguely similar to the latest rape charges filed by a 35-year-old American national woman, allegedly raped on March 28, 2015 by Peepli Live co-director Mahmood Farooqui.
Are men in showbiz soft targets? Is it easier to prove that rape - a sexual offence of the highest order according to the Indian Penal Code - in the glam world stand as just another metaphor for extortion? Is a woman whose sex has been invaded, whose trust broken, lying to get noticed? A man, who has been forced to have gay sex, a wannabe, naturally?
Why do wives never remain neutral? What are they hiding when they defend their men? A woman like Pallavi Kumar Saraf, who cried foul last year when her actor husband Inder Kumar was detained from his home after a 23-year-old model alleged that he had raped her at his house twice and was hit with a beer bottle by Kumar and confined at his home in suburban Andheri for a couple of days. Following his arrest, Saraf went all out to prove Kumar was innocent and it was nothing but consensual sex, accepting he may have "slipped", but didn't rape the victim. Are most marriages in B-town naturally open? Is the enormity of rape something we can only handle on celluloid?
Or is Bollywood guilty, as charged?