At the India Today Conclave South 2018 in Visakhapatnam, Aditi Rao Hydari revealed that there were consequences when she spoke about the #MeToo movement.
Slow clap for the dizzying heights of hypocrisy... People who are clearly guilty of major harassment giving gyaan on the #MeTooIndia movement...
— Aditi Rao Hydari (@aditiraohydari) October 12, 2018
When the actress called out the "dizzying heights of hypocrisy" in the film industry, she lost work for eight months. She said, "I remember when I started, I was extra-naive because I came from a protected background. I didn’t know that the rumors were true, that things like this did happen. And honestly, I have not had such a bad time. I had one incident which actually didn’t harm me very much. But yes, I did lose work because I was given a choice - it’s either this or this. For me, it was a no-brainer. I had to walk away.”
There was a time when she had lost all hope. She revealed, "At that time when it happened, I was really upset and I did think that this was it and I was never going to get work again."
Things started looking up for her after eight months. Now, Aditi is happy that she is doing the kind of work that she wants to do, and with the people that she wants to work with. Her manager and team convinced her to snap out of the negative state of mind.
Aditi feels that victims of sexual misconduct should not be forced to come forward with their stories. "I think you should speak about something only when you are ready. And when you don’t talk about it, people are like, ’Oh, they were paid off’ or ’oh, they were silenced.’"
She added, "I think that everybody should do what they need to do when they think it is right. That is what empowering a person is. This #MeToo movement is turning that on its head and taking that power away by putting these conditions and saying, ’You must speak. If you don’t, that means you are giving in.’"
Mrigaya Dham
