As many as 11 women Indian filmmakers on Sunday came together to support the raging #MeToo movement in India, saying they have taken a stand to not work with proven offenders.
Alankrita Shrivastava, Gauri Shinde, Kiran Rao, Konkona Sen Sharma, Meghna Guizar, Nandita Das, Nitya Mehra, Reema Kagti, Ruchi Narain, Shonali Bose and Zoya Akhtar are among the filmmakers who have taken the stand, according to a note circulated by them on social media.
"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," the note said.
"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 same."
The #MeToo movement in India sparked when Tanushree Dutta came forward to renew allegations against Nana Patekar in an incident dating back to 2008. Since then, a number of women have come forward with complaints against names like Alok Nath, Rajat Kapoor, Subhash Ghai, Vikas Bahl, Subhash Kapoor, Kailash Kher and Sajid Khan.
Ever since the names came out, Aamir Khan stepped out of a project which was to be directed by Subhash Kapoor. Akshay Kumar asked the producers of "Housefull 4", which was being directed by Sajid and co-starred Nana, to cancel the shoot until "further investigation", and Hrithik Roshan too urged the producers of Bahl's "Super 30" to take a hard stand.
As a fallout of the movement, Sajid has been replaced as "Housefull 4" director by Farhad Samji.