&Privé Soirée panellists speak about their learnings from #MeToo

Actors Dia Mirza and Swara Bhaskar, along with National Award winning documentarian Anand Patwardhan discussed the “other side” of Weinstein: The Inside Story at the recently held &Privé Soirée, organised by &PrivéHD.

The discussion centred around the issues dealing with sexual harassment and gender inequality in the wake of the #MeToo movement. During the discussion, the panellists shared a ‘NoteToMe’– their learnings post the revolution that rocked the world.

As a ‘Note To Me’, Swara Bhaskar shared her learnings based on her own experience in the Hindi Film Industry, “I would say that my learning is, especially to girls and the boys out there, in our parenting, one of the values we give our children in the form of respect is the notion of shame. It is across caste, class, linguistic barriers, we all have deeply engraved notion of shame. This is one of the biggest obstacles to recognize something wrong is happening to you and to be able to call it out and to share it and come out without and try and be a part of the movement to stop these things. Do not subscribe to this notion of shame. Shame is nothing, there is an integrity to our soul, even of our bodies are violated nobody can take our integrity from us. Your sense of sanctity does not lie in your body. My learning for every girl out there is do not subscribe to this notion of shame.”

Dia Mirza’s ‘Note To Me’ was directed to the victims of sexual assault, “If it is making you uncomfortable, don’t do it. I think men are also equally responsible for understanding that. It baffles me how we have become what we are. The person you are with or want to be with, must desire you as you desire them – the learning is as simple as that.”

Anand Patwardhan put his views forward on the way ahead and said, “There is a problem in how we are talking about all this. What India is lacking is a sexual revolution. We need economical, sexual and political empowerment of women. We are equal in every sense, that will be a step forward. This what we need to teach our children because the whole idea of rape is absurd.”

Aimed at building a community for like-minded cinephiles, who appreciate nuanced cinema, &PrivéSoirée is an exclusive initiative by &Privé HD, wherein hand-picked movies are screened, followed by a panel discussion in front of a live audience.