Bengali director, actor taken to court for sexually-loaded comments

A Bengali reality show Shonge Srijit hosted by eminent filmmaker Srijit Mukherjee is at the votex of a fierce battle of decorum, with a young lady claiming she has been defamed by two of Srijit’s guest, well-known actors Rudranil Ghosh and Parambrata Chatterjee.

Apparently both the actors were having a fling with the lady—and to her credit she isn’t denying it—and decided to indulge in some TRP-boosting banter.

When Rudranil was asked about the relationship, he said that the lady was like a 'playground' where he played in the morning and Parambrata played in the evening. The statement must rank as one of the distasteful comment ever made about a woman on a reality show.

Srijit, who hosts the show claims he rang up the lady and took her permission for her name to be mentioned by Rudaranil and Parambrata.

According to Srijit, she “readily and happily” agreed to participate on the show on the phone line but that didn’t happen. Instead, Rudranal went on to make an insulting and cringe-worthy sexually loaded remark. Now, Prambrata, along with Srijit and producer Jisshu Sengupta have been dragged to court. It will be interesting to see if that lady settles for a public apology as it would be very difficult for Rudranil to justify himself in court.

But then stars feel they’ve the right to speak about women in a flippant and crass manner. I know of a Bollywood superstar (married and with children and a with no-nonsense firebrand of a wife at home) who, describes most private sections of his conquests’ anatomy to his cronies who giggle and clap. Another producer once told me that his friends refer to a very big heroine as the “wh**e from... ” (name of her place of origin withheld).

Years before these two loose talking lady killers, there was this ‘Garam’ macho star who would sit between shots with his chamchas, one of whom would flip the pages of a magazine looking at every heroine’s picture. The chamcha would point a finger at every heroine and look quizzically at the ‘Garam’ hero. If he nodded in affirmative, it meant he had sexual relations with her.

So, women have been seen as game in the Indian entertainment industry from time-immemorial. Good that someone has finally raised a voice of protest.

Reality shows participants really need to refrain themselves from making such comments. Shows like Bigg Boss not only condone eve-teasing and female-bashing they even celebrate it. Women on these shows are often seen being heckled by both the sexes. It’s supposed to be fun and cool.

'Comedy Nights With Kapil' poked merciless fun, much of it aimed at the thick lips of the actress who played Kapil’s wife. In the course of the comedy show, she was referred to as a serpent, a wolf, a toilet seat etc. She had no choice but to take it sportingly.

The reality about reality shows is that they treat women as commodities.The playground in Rudranil Ghosh’s mind was a part of that hallucinatory reality where women can be talked about as video games.

Sorry to say this, Rudranil, but you had it coming for you.