Allegations against the producer show sexual predators can operate in workplaces and societies that normalise their behaviour first
Honestly, I'd never rat on loud neighbours having a great time, even if it were at the cost of sleep. Knocking at a door to bust a party is just an ultra-douche thing to do. And so, it's only with minor envy, and slight admiration, that I waited until morning to find out who exactly had checked-in to the hotel room next to mine, and instantly transformed it into a Playboy Mansion of sorts, with a huge gaggle of girls giggling through the night as, I'm presuming, booze flowed.
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As many as 43 women have accused Weinstein of sexual harassment. Pic/AFP
The gentleman, the hotel staff told me, was a famous filmmaker, although a fairly old man by now. I was quite impressed. That filmmaker and I were participating in the same film festival, at the after-party of which, I was on the table with him, with a strikingly beautiful European actress seated between us.
A drunken guy once abruptly walked in to express his love for the European blonde. She fobbed him off fine. At some point, she asked me about the filmmaker instead: "Is he a Mafia don?" "No; why?" "Well he just clenched his fist, said he'll kill that guy (who'd interrupted their conversation)." I laughed: "Maybe that's his way of expressing machismo."
I didn't tell her that the said gent was possibly a sexual predator, with an infamous king-size casting-bed in the outskirts of the city, which has served as the rite of passage for any woman landing a major part in his movies for years. It's an open secret. I realised his lecherous ways when I bumped into him as a college intern once, taking sound bytes with a female friend. He spoke to me with his eyes wholly fixed on my friend's breasts. It appeared shocking that someone's reputation succeeds them, even at the lobby of a shopping-mall!
People often diagnose this condition as 'sexual addiction' - what producer Harvey Weinstein admitted himself for, after allegations of serial sexual harassment and molestation committed over decades broke like a dam on him one fine morning. Psychologists, by the way, are wholly divided on whether there is an ailment called sexual addiction at all - for anyone to be cured of it. Humans are capably in control of their sexual impulses, regardless. Perhaps, the disorder is external. It seems a power trip has something to do with it.
Over a period of time, I had a couple of female actors complain to me privately about the said filmmaker's advances - and how they'd warded them off, only to be left out of his films eventually. Why had they never gone public with it? It's hard to say.
Or, maybe, even harder to do in a largely unorganised industry of freelancers where, for the most part, a company is formed for a year or two around the production of a particular film. And then, like seasonal farmers, the same lot - cast, crew - disperses to organise itself behind various other productions. Where's then even a scope of an internal sexual harassment committee or a senior to confide in, when authority is essentially centralised around the alleged harasser (or the producer/director) himself?
And so, it's easy to hear about such serial offenders in Bollywood. Many of them have even been brazen about their supposed sexual exploits. Ram Gopal Varma, for instance, whether in jest or not, has spoken about how he prefers to get his carnal urges out of the way, when he's with an attractive woman (an actor, most likely), just so they can talk about work, without any distractions thereafter!
I distinctly remember the old-time filmmaker Saawan Kumar Tak almost justifying casting-couch on a TV discussion, as the inevitably organic relationship between the artiste, and his creation/muse!
Does showbiz get a higher share of sexual fiends than other professions? Not sure. It does lend itself more naturally to public gossip, since people involved are known. And as much as we love glitz (which appears too good to be true), our ears perk up at the thought of sleaze behind the stardom. There ought to be that disgusting, dark side to such a beautiful moon.
Which, by the way, has only been shrinking in Bollywood, given that auditions are more of a norm than an exception. Several studios are organised enough to have an HR department (to begin with). Casting is a legitimate business. Sleazoids are generally wary. Those who aren't, everybody usually knows about them. I feel it's a matter of time before they get wary.
Most of the aspiring female actors I've met - pretty much all of them educated, confident, self-aware, affluent, and ambitious - tell me if they plan on sleeping with someone (for a part, or otherwise), it'd entirely be their choice. They're happy to exercise it if push comes to shove.
Well, it is their choice. Consent is king. Now if you consent to concessions once, can you always go back on it? And isn't this an unfair transaction to begin with? Well, that's another matter.
Unsurprisingly, the only proper sex-scandal type story I've ever covered was the rape allegation against director Madhur Bhandarkar. Having spoken extensively with the starlet and the accused then, my feeble conclusion (although contestable) was that the girl had been with the guy forever. He just didn't offer her a role. If anything, that's the opposite of a 'casting couch'.
Mayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture. He tweets @mayankw14. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
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