Singer Sona Mohapatra is “truly elated” to receive actress Tanushree Dutta’s support in her protest against composer Anu Malik being reinstated as a judge on Sony TVs “Indian Idol Season 11”. Last year, Malik was removed as Season 10 judge after Sona alleged that the composer had sexually harassed her. There were accusations against Malik by other singers such as Neha Bhasin, Shweta Pandit, and Caralisa Monteiro, too.
Tanushree, who kickstarted the Me Too campaign in Bollywood in 2018, in a recent interview said that she wanted to “stand up, raise my hands up and applaud Sona Mohapatra” for her guts to speak up against Malik.
Reacting to Tanushree’s comment, Sona said: “I read Tanushree’s interview and critique of Sony TV’s double standards of claiming to be a family channel but platforming a multiple accused sexual predator like Anu Malik on Indian Idol this morning on my way back from a concert and I felt truly elated! She was the first to speak up in #MeToo in Bollywood after the women in Kerala initiated the movement in India and she has been really brave in this fight for safer workplaces.”
“My own fight is not against just one man, but against an entire system that normalizes sexual harassment and encourages perverted behaviour, power play, and a lopsided system. I am not one to tire easily or run away from a battlefield and one odd fight might be lost but ultimately the war will be won,” Sona added.
She sounded confident that Malik would be removed. “Anu Malik being removed from this show will be a symbolic victory for the people fighting for positive change, a better and safer future for children and women in India. This is no small, petty or minor issue, this is a matter that defines what kind of ‘India Shining’ we plan to be in the coming years. This is the ‘good over evil’ type of fight and celebration that we have every year on Durga Puja or Dussehra.” (IANS)
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