Recently Mukesh Khanna, who played the iconic role of Shaktiman in the popular show in the 90s, has been criticized for making regressive statements about increasing ‘Me Too’ cases.
He blamed women for the rise in sexual harassment cases against them and said that women are only meant to do household work. While blaming women for the rise in sexual harassment cases against them, he said:
“Problem kaha se shuru hue hai #MeToo ki jab aurato nein bhi kaam karna shuru kar diya”
It is heartbreaking how often women are blamed for the crimes and abuse they suffer. Earlier, a BJP MLA Surendra Singh Ballia said that rape cases can be “stopped” if parents teach their daughters to behave “decently”.
But what was shocking was that like many male chauvinists, our childhood superhero Mukesh Khanna, blames women for all bad experiences and crimes against them.
In an undated interview to Filmy Charcha, he can be heard saying:
“Aurat ki rachna alag hoti hai aur mard ki alag hoti hai. Aurat ka kaam hai ghar sambhalna. Problem kaha shuru hui #MeToo ki? Jab auraton ne bhi kaam karna shuru kar diya. Aaj aurat aadmi ke sath kandhey se kandha milane ni baat karti hai. Problem yahi se shuru hoti hai. Sabse pehle jo member suffer karta hai woh ghar ka bachcha suffer karta hai jisko maa nahi milti,”
He further continues:
(Women say) main bhi wohi karungi jo mard karta hai. Nahin, mard mard hai, aurat aurat hai.
Actor turned right wing rabble rouser Mukesh Khanna says women going out to work and thinking of being equal to men is cause of #metoo pic.twitter.com/1sZ37GudTy
— Hindutva Watch (@Hindutva__watch) October 30, 2020
Many netizens were left disappointed in him and took to Twitter to share their disgust and anger:
The best and worst part of social media is seeing your childhood heros fail so miserably. Fuck you shaktimaan. https://t.co/xVYGBn1St4
— P J (@poojavj06) October 30, 2020
Mukesh Khanna is the cautionary tale of how living in the past glory can be dangerous. His attention-seeking words reek of desperation .He wants to get validated by more misogynistic men & be hailed as a hero that he never was. Media needs to stop normalising such sexist men
— Rudrani Chattoraj (@rudrani_rudz) October 31, 2020
Seriously… due to such people woman are in trouble now days… This mentality needs to get change…
— Rahul… naam toh suna hoga!!! (@Rahul_NTUH) October 31, 2020
Cant believe he play Bhishma in Mahabharat… he learn nothing for the saga…
What the fuck? Did he actually say that #MeToo ‘s root cause is women started to work with men? Really? this is the guy we enjoyed as shaktiman who has now ruined our childhood image lol piece of shit https://t.co/GQafMmSPBt
— P (@TheseHairFlips) October 30, 2020
Men with mentality like #MukeshKhanna is the reason why #Metoo happens. #Shame https://t.co/eB1hbI88qx
— Adv Mumtaz Begum (@i_am_mumtaz) October 30, 2020
When your childhood super hero turns out to be a sexist turd https://t.co/UyzXyba5ug
— Vedant (@LakhaniVedant) October 30, 2020
Didn’t know shaktiman’s superpowers also included being a misogynistic pig and perpetuating a vicious patriarchal cycle ???? https://t.co/c26toMvy1F
— ragnarok (@aruararu) October 30, 2020
????????
— Abhi (@Ak_sooryavans) October 30, 2020
Itne murkh log aapko uss side hi milenge, why it’s always womens duty to look after their child, children’s are shared responsibility of both, secondly, its solely women’s decision to work or not, we can just accept it but denying it is certainly a violation of FR. https://t.co/k0wwEfLXXm
This incident is a clear reminder of how our reel heroes are far away from being real heroes!