By Aditya Aamir
The Judge Brett Kavanaugh controversy in the United States may be coming to a closure but actor Nana Patekar’s case will keep stewing for a time in the foreseeable future. The judge did not get what Patekar also cannot: A penile plythsmography or phallometry test, which is a measurement of blood flow to the male organ, typically used as a proxy for measurement of sexual arousal at the time of an alleged sexual incident.
That is because too much time elapsed, 36 years in the case of Judge Kavanaugh and a decade in that of Nana Patekar. Tanushree Dutta’s “recall memory” is suddenly up to full-speed. She also remembers that filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri asked her “to strip” for a movie sequence. But that has led to a circling of the wagons: Bollywood is now threatened and the debate has shifted to the definition of “item song.” An ‘item song’ involves touching and titillation and there is no running away from that fact.
It can be argued that women are always at a disadvantage and far removed from the set. That’s how the cards are stacked. Fundamental fairness and due process were not given them throughout human history and now the tables are turning. But part of the resistance, call it backlash, comes from within the ranks. Like in what’s unravelling in Kerala, where women – whose rights have been asserted by the apex court – in their multitudes are stepping outdoors to demand status quo.
Justice Chandrachud will have to go to his mother to unravel that quirk. Or have a chat with Justice Indu Malhotra who saw what was coming and voiced it in her dissent with appropriate words. It is another matter that the media gave due recognition to Justice Chandrachud’s dissent in the Aadhaar case but did not give the same gravity to Justice Malhotra’s dissent in the Sabarimala case. Now, that loss in faith has come back to hit.
Tanushree Dutta is not in the Sabarimala sort of grid to be locked out. She has fair support among Bollywood actors, both men and women, and has the backing of Women and Child Welfare Minister Maneka Gandhi. But it is when something like this is given full scrutiny that the ‘evil is in the details’ syndrome kicks in. Now, it is being said she did not lodge an FIR at the time of the incident in 2008, and that the only FIR was the one lodged by a media outlet against her.
‘Going down memory lane’ is a journalistic method to title a story with a different headline and always it’s going down a happy feel-good memory lane, never the dark road ending in a box canyon. Most stories of the genre involve the memory of a known individual, a prominent public figure like an actor or a sports hero. More and more, however, going down memory lane is total recall of an alleged sexual infarction of a public figure.
In Nana Patekar’s case, he’s a folk hero; the actor who preceded Irfan Khan and Nawazuddin Siddique as the unlikely hero, different from the “chocolate-looks” who mostly belonged to star-families. They are the outliers who made it. Now, his supporters say Nana is being guillotined for being a ‘made guy’ of the Sicilian Mafia mould. That’s because the only edge the #MeToo movement has is the sexual edge.
So, ‘raking-up memories’ has effectively replaced ‘going down the memory lane’ and there must be oldies (not old movies) in Bollywood who must be throbbing in their britches hoping and praying no one “Dutta remembers” recalls them. Shakti Kapoor, who must surely have several sorry skeletons to hide, reacted this way to the Tanushree-Nana faceoff: “I don’t know; at that time I was just a kid!” That must have drawn some nervous chuckles in Pali Hill and Bandra.
It is not as if the police will find the lead pipe with the body, dried blood and fingerprints to match, to nail Nana. It happened so long ago and in front of “450 people”. #MeToo is all about accusations and a prayer. So long as there is even one person accusing, with some sort of past link with the accused, the accusation is valid. In Tanushree’s case, she had taken her grouse to the Cine and TV Artistes’ Association (CINTAA) but did not go by advice and file an FIR.
Judge Kavanaugh may yet be confirmed to the United States Supreme Court but he will carry the scars of humiliation to his grave. The judge alleged a smear campaign with a #MeToo persistence to tarnish his image and reputation. The irony is Tanushree Dutta supported by #MeToo is alleging a similar smear campaign against her. Shows that #MeToo is yet to find traction in India, even in Bollywood.
It will take more than a Farhan Akhtar or a Raveena Tandon to take #MeToo to the heights or depths as seen in the West. But be sure that item songs will not be a suggestion that will find favour at ‘film meetings’ any longer. “Not a good idea, too many suggestive gestures,” will be the verdict: Two hands in the chop motion! Butcher and be done with it. (IPA Service)