The #MeToo movement in India has left everyone shaken and stirred. From the top A-listers to production houses to even big corporate houses everyone has come under the radar. The habitual offenders have been named, shamed and blamed and many of them have paid the price of their misconduct by losing out on jobs or plump film projects.
Tanushree Dutta who started the movement by accusing Nana Patekar of sexual harassment has given strength to numerous women to come out and relate their ordeals. Now, Alia Bhatt’s mother Soni Razdan has also opened up on her #MeToo story and revealed that someone tried to rape her once on a film set.
[caption id="attachment_140670" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Soni Razdan[/caption]
In a recent interview to a website, the actress said, "Like there was an incident that happened to me when I was on a film shoot and somebody tried to rape me. Luckily they didn't succeed." Soni added that despite such a grave misconduct she did not report the harasser to the concerned authorities.
She said, “You know the only reason I never said anything at that time and it sounds really odd maybe but I realized if I would have opened my mouth then that person would have gone through a lot of problems. He had a family, small children. And at that time I said, ok, nothing really happened, I managed to control it but obviously I never spoke to that person again. I did not, not talk about it because of any shame or anything like that. I felt that I would be hurting his family, whom I knew.”
[caption id="attachment_65386" align="aligncenter" width="750"] Soni Razdan with daughter Alia Bhatt[/caption]
However, she said in the interview that if something similar would have happened to her today, she would certainly raise alarm and make a complaint against the harasser. Soni said, “But I don't know, if today it would have happened, I don't think I would have done the same thing. I wouldn't have been that magnanimous, I would have complained about it I think.”
Big names like Alok Nath, Sajid Khan, Subhash Ghai, Vikas Bahl, Rajat Kapoor, Anu Malik, Kailash Kher have been taken as people who have sexually harassed several women over the years.