Idolising Kangana Ranaut to vilifying Rhea Chakraborty is Misogyny at its Best

The public has taken law into their hands and become a massive investigative agency ever since a FIR was filed against Rhea Chakraborty in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case.

I don’t think there is any other form of harassment, torture or humiliation left for the Chakrabortys, particularly Rhea Chakraborty, to experience which they already haven’t in the past couple of days. The media (print and otherwise), journalists, prime time, non-prime time news, barring a few just have one thing to show, ‘The witch Rhea Chakraborty’. The media circus has left everyone wondering what will happen to Rhea Chakraborty and family. Will they sail through this?

The case has its own share of twists and turns and the element of the unknown has made everybody a self-proclaimed expert in this case. However, it is very sad seeing influential Bollywood stars like Kangana Ranaut hit an all-time low with her factually incorrect sweeping statements, accusations, blame-games and insensitivity towards every issue being discussed.  I don’t know if there is any individual left in Bollywood and otherwise that has not been directly or indirectly attacked by Kangana for having an opinion against hers. Once upon a time, she spoke against nepotism and issues of patriarchy in the society and the problematic culture in Bollywood, which was important and she rallied support. But now sadly she has been completely absorbed by the very same things she once hated (claimed to) or was against. The narrow view of feminism that Kangana carried has eventually shed and revealed her internalised misogyny. I fear the worst is yet to come. One of Kangana's tweet on July 29, 2020:

“Sure Rhea is a gold digger but Sushant was her only source of income, after his murder she rushed to meet Akhtars, why? Does she have valid reason to kill Sushant? Or did the mafia use her? Is suicide gang making her the scapegoat now? #justiceforSushantSinghRajput”

There are multiples such tweets, interviews and posts which her she and her team have shared on social media platforms either name-calling, shaming, degrading and being outright misogynistic towards another actor or individual who has given their opinion which was different from hers.

Every actor from Vidya Balan to Tapsee Pannu, who has come out in support of Rhea Chakraborty has been brutally trolled online in the garb of supporting the ‘Chudail’, and not fighting to seek justice for the late actor. Vidya Balan said, "Let's show some respect for the constitutional rights of a citizen and let the law take its course”.

The media lynching of Rhea Chakraborty shows the poor journalistic standards that Indian journalists have touched. The question is no more about the ‘truth’ in this case, it is only harassing a woman to get the necessary publicity for your respective channel.  It is gut-wrenching to see how the journalists are hounding her to get a ‘byte’ just to increase their TRPs. The question of ethical journalism raises eyebrows and one wonders if this is how every high profile case involving a ‘woman’ will be investigated hereon.

Kangana Ranaut Rhea Chakraborty commentary puts misogyny to shame says a SheThePeople reader. Is naming and shaming what we expect from Kangana?

It is heartbreaking to see the likes of Kangana and a few other women forming gangs, calling themselves #justicewarriorsforSSR and at the same time shaming and name calling another woman without the consideration of how grossly wrong their words and acts are. What is happening to Rhea today, can happen to us tomorrow. We may engage in the sadistic pleasure of Rhea's life, till our turn comes.

Rhea Chakraborty is currently under arrest and CBI is investigating her role in the death of Sushant Singh Rajput. The opinions expressed are not to question the investigation but simply report on media coverage on the issue.

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