Whatever image they project personally, Bollywood fraternity has an obvious hypocritical attitude when it comes to different situations according to the “need of the hour”. Such bonhomie was evident during the IIFA Awards, where not one seemed annoyed with Salman Khan’s recent tasteless comment and all of them were seen bonding with him.
Deepika Padukone, who went on a rant after her “cleavage controversy” over sexism, didn’t see the need to disapprove of Salman’s remarks; neither did Sultan co-star Anushka Sharma, who recently slammed trollers as “misogynists” and “powerless men”.
Kalki Koechlin, who has been vocal about sexual abuse and stood up for rape victims, too, remained tight-lipped. MARD Farhan Akhtar, who recently spoke about the Stanford rape case, also chose to ignore Bhai’s comment.
It should also be remembered that Salman didn’t take it well when AIB made a few jokes at his sister Arpita’s expense, and had them deleted. He was also, apparently, upset with his friends who laughed at the joke.
“It’s really sad that someone like Farhan Akhtar, who is a spokesperson for ‘He for She’, chose to remain quiet. Priyanka Chopra who spoke about equal wages for women in the industry decided to keep mum when it came to Salman,” says Sapna Bhavnani, celebrity hairstylist, adding, “Deepika Padukone raised a furore about her cleavage controversy. But they all chose to remain quiet when it came to Salman.”
Highlighting the hypocritical behaviour of B’wood, Sapna adds, “This clearly shows that they will talk about something only when it directly affects them. They are not standing for a movement for women rights here but propagating their own motives. Why else would they be silent? Salman is not even willing to apologise.
It simply shows how insensitive they are towards the issue. Many of those who are gleefully clicking pictures with him in Madrid have used his stardom and popularity for their own benefits. If such a thing would have happened in Hollywood, the actor would have faced the wrath of the entire country and the industry as well.”
Most of the celebs want to remain in Salman’s good books, because they believe he is the man who can make or break their careers. Take Arijit Singh for example. Even after the singer repeatedly apologised for years, Salman didn’t pay any heed. He has also allegedly ruined the careers of many, including Vivek Oberoi.
Elaborating on why celebs decided to stay mum, ad guru Prahlad Kakkar says, “People in the industry know that they will be ostracised if they talk against Salman and that they won’t get any work after that. That’s the reason no one’s talking about it. Even when Salman and Aishwarya Rai were going through a rough patch, no one took Ash’s side but sympathised with Salman. People in the industry are hypocrites and chauvinism is in their DNA. Look at the kind of scripts they write. They just want women to flaunt their bodies and be an eye candy. Very few scripts have a female protagonist. The media should have a long-term memory. When stars who wax eloquent about certain issues at some point in time choose to remain quiet now, one should take them to task.”
“I don’t think what he said was deliberate though. He may support women for the heck of rationality, but unconsciously he will re-main a chauvinist,” he adds.
— With inputs from Aarti Bhanushali
