Parched actress, Radhika Apte shut down a reporter at a press conference yesterday, after she was asked about an intimate scene from the film that was leaked.
"Sorry, your question is very ridiculous. Controversies are made by the people like you. You saw the clip, you shared with other people, so you made the controversy," she said, as reported by The Indian Express.
She said that as an artist if she is required to do a certain scene, she will have no qualms doing it. She said if the reporter had looked at what people are doing all around the world in cinema, he would not have asked this question.
"I am not ashamed of anything. People who are embarrassed about their own body are curious about others' bodies. So if you want to see a naked body tomorrow, see yourself in the mirror rather than my clip. Then only we can talk about this," she said.
Adil Hussain, the actor who was in the scene with Apte, has pointed out that the video has conveniently been named the 'Radhika Apte sex scene' with no mention of him! He says that this points to the pervasive patriarchal mindset that prevails.
"The person who has
This is not the first time a woman has been blatantly asked sexist questions from the media. Here are three other cases where actresses have not been afraid to call out ridiculous questions about their bodies and gender.
1. When Kangana Ranaut was asked about the shelf life of actresses, she curtly replied that people only conveniently ask these questions to women. But they would never ask this question to a man. The question itself is unfair and shouldn't be asked, she said.
2. Parineeti Chopra firmly shut down a reporter who made a sexist comment about women, saying that "when girls are young, they like ‘it’ and when they get old, they start shouting and screaming that the boy exploited them." She said that there are always two people involved. She said the question was ridiculous and disrespectful.
3. When a newspaper article's headline read "OMG! Deepika Padukone’s cleavage show,” the actress took a stand and tweeted “YES! I am a Woman. I have breasts AND a cleavage! You got a problem!!??"
These are only some of the instances in which actresses have had to face outright sexism from the media. The sexist attacks they face on twitter are another matter. It is heartening to see more and more Bollywood actresses are taking a stand against sexism.