Mukesh Khanna says #MeToo began after women started working, receives backlash

The #MeToo movement showed the dark side of all the industries where women face harassment. Even in Bollywood, many names came into the spotlight who were accused of assault, harassment, and many such allegations. But, actor Mukesh Khanna feels otherwise. His recent statement has angered the netizens as he blamed that the #MeToo cases happened because women wanted to be equal with men.

Known as Shaktimaan and Bheeshma Pitamah of Television, Mukesh Khanna has been a well-known face of the Indian entertainment industry. In a recent interview with FilmyCharcha, he said, “Aurat ki rachna alag hoti hai aur mard ki alag hoti hai. Aurat ka kaam hai ghar sambhalna. Problem kahan shuru huyi #MeToo ki? Jab auraton ne bhi kaam karna shuru kar diya. Aaj aurat aadmi ke sath kandhey se kandha milane ni baat karti hai. Problem yahi se shuru hoti hai. Sabse pehle jo member suffer karta hai woh ghar ka bachcha suffer karta hai jisko maa nahi milti (A woman is different and a man is different. A woman's job is to take care of the house. The problem of #MeToo began when women moved out of the house and started working. Today she wants to work shoulder to shoulder with men. But more than that the child who travels has to be away from his mother. The child is forced to live with a nanny and sits with him as she is watching serial like 'Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi'. A man is a man and a woman is a woman)."

This did not go down well with netizens who called out his misogynistic mindset. They slammed for his views. After much backlash, on Saturday evening, he took to Twitter to say that he regrets he couldn't present his view correctly and that he has always respected women. He wrote, "मेरा फ़िल्मी सफ़र इस बात की पुष्टि करता है मैंने हमेशा नारियों की इज़्ज़त की है।इस बात को हर कलाकार या हर फ़िल्म यूनिट का मेम्बर जानता है कि मैंने हमेशा सबकी इज़्ज़त की है।अगर कोई भी नारी मेरे इस स्टेट्मेंट से आहत हुई हो तो मुझे अफ़सोस है कि मैं अपनी बात सही ढंग से नहीं रख पाया। (My film journey confirms that I have always respected the women. This is known to every artist or member of every film unit, that I have always respected everyone. If any woman is hurt by this statement I am sorry that I was not able to put my point correctly)."

मेरा फ़िल्मी सफ़र इस बात की पुष्टि करता है मैंने हमेशा नारियों की इज़्ज़त की है।इस बात को हर कलाकार या हर फ़िल्म यूनिट का मेम्बर जानता है कि मैंने हमेशा सबकी इज़्ज़त की है।अगर कोई भी नारी मेरे इस स्टेट्मेंट से आहत हुई हो तो मुझे अफ़सोस है कि मैं अपनी बात सही ढंग से नहीं रख पाया।

— Mukesh Khanna (@actmukeshkhanna) October 31, 2020

ALSO READ: Kapil Sharma responds to Mukesh Khanna’s comments of calling The Kapil Sharma Show’s content vulgar