New Delhi: The Bengali entertainment fraternity is experiencing its own MeToo moment. The sustained protests following the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, and the churn in the Malayalam film industry over allegations of sexual harassment in the Hema Committee Report are proving to be the catalyst.
On social media, a number of female actors have started recounting their experiences of harassment and misogyny. Arindam Sil, a prominent Bengali actor and filmmaker, was suspended indefinitely from the Directors Association of Eastern India (DAEI) on 7 September after an actor alleged that he forcibly kissed her while they were shooting for a film. She lodged a formal complaint with the West Bengal Commission for Women (WBCW), following which an FIR was registered against him.
The West Bengal government has reportedly formed an “unbiased committee” to investigate allegations of sexual exploitation in the film industry. Actor Ritabhari Chakraborty posted on social media that she met Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee regarding the formation of the committee of five, headed by a former justice.
Sil, best known for the Mitin and Shabor franchise films, has been accused of inappropriate behaviour toward female colleagues in the past. But this is the first time action has been taken against him.
Four years ago, actor Rupanjana Mitra had accused the director of behaving inappropriately with her during a script-reading session. Her decision to speak out cost her important projects, she said.
“The traumas have resurfaced, and that’s why female actors are speaking out. Sil has been a repeat offender. If he could behave inappropriately with me, I shudder to think what chance newcomers have,” she added.
A Facebook profile with the name ‘Ami Jhuma’ shared a post on 7 September, alleging that actor Joyjit Banerjee had, among other things, asked about the size of her breasts. The alleged incident itself took place three years ago. Less than 24 hours after Banerjee denied the accusations, a model came forward with her own allegation against the actor. She accused him of cohabiting with her under false assurances. She is reportedly planning to take legal action against Banerjee.
The hope is that this time, action will be taken against the men being named and shamed.
Last month, female artists, including Aparna Sen, Paoli Dam, and Swastika Mukherjee, wrote a letter to the West Bengal Tele Academy, demanding a safer work environment. They highlighted the silence regarding recurring incidents of abuse in their workplaces, and the need for a redressal mechanism, including a special helpline number for victims of sexual harassment in the film industry.
Also read: Lights, camera, sexual harassment—PoSH committees in Mumbai showbiz failing MeToo
The Sil case
The recent complaint against Sil spurred the WBCW to act promptly. The incident took place during a shoot on 3 April 2024. The actor approached the commission with a formal complaint, and on 12 August, Sil received an email informing him of the matter. The commission made calls to Sil to hear his version of the incident and eventually asked him to pen a letter, apologising for his actions. The FIR was registered after he submitted the letter.
Sil, however, claims he is being targeted.
“I am a soft target, because another actor had made an allegation on social media in 2018. But once I shared my version of events with the press, the matter went nowhere. This time, the women’s commission targeted me,” he told ThePrint.
Sil stressed that he likes to enact scenes for all his directorial ventures, and that everyone is aware of the practice. On the day when the alleged harassment took place, the female actor had asked him to show how to go about the scene.
“It was a romantic scene and I showed how it should look, and how she should sit on the male actor’s lap, and while enacting my cheek brushed against her,” said Sil. The female actor has alleged that Sil had kissed her.
“It was a full-fledged shoot, with my DOP, and others present. Why would I put everything on stake and kiss her?” said Sil. However, a recent news report says that witnesses on shot have corroborated the complainant’s version.
Now, more women are speaking out against him. When Sil invited Rupanjana Mitra to his office near Acropolis Mall in Kolkata, she assumed it would be a regular script-reading session. This was back in 2018. By then, she was already a well-known name in the television industry for her portrayal of Shonoka in the TV series Behula. Mitra, who was also a single mother, dropped her son with her nanny before arriving at Sil’s office at 5 pm.
But in the middle of reading the script, he allegedly tried to touch her inappropriately. “I was deeply traumatised because I have worked with him before, and this was the first time something like this had happened,” said Mitra, who firmly rebuffed him.
She decided not to lodge a formal complaint because it would have meant jeopardising the show she was a part of.
“I was briefly associated with BJP, between 2019-21, and Sil has been supporting TMC. So when I spoke out against him, he called it a political tactic. That is absolutely baseless,” she added.
Actor Swastika Mukherjee also shared a post with a screenshot of the director’s guild letter to Sil.
“Thought I would not be able to see in my life. God has kept his word. Took 20 years, let it be,” the actor wrote on Facebook.
Mitra has now decided to speak up again and be an ally of the complainant against Sil.
“I also plan to lodge a formal complaint in the women’s commission against him about what happened to me. Women need to stand together” she said.
The 2018 movement
The Bengali film industry has always been hailed for making progressive movies like 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981), Dahan (1997), and Chokher Bali (2003). It has powerful women directors and actors like Sen, Mukherjee, and Dam. But the 2018 MeToo movement did not translate into decisive action or change.
At the time, several actors spoke out against filmmakers like Premangshu Roy, Pavel, and Mukherjee’s behaviour in various social media posts. But everyone denied the allegations, and no further action was taken in the various instances.
“We have a rape culture, and we have a victim-blaming culture. We always ask, why are you speaking now, instead of addressing the issue,” said actor Debleena Dutt, who recalled her own ordeal, involving a Bengali superstar in the very beginning of her career in 2005.
She was with a troupe of actors in San Francisco and New York. Everyone had to share rooms, with the exception of the male star who had a private suite to himself. One night, the actor left a message with her roommate claiming that Dutt’s mother had left her shawl in his suite. When she went to retrieve it, he allegedly assaulted her. According to Dutt, the actor was very drunk and hugged her tightly. She pushed him away and tried to open the door, but it was locked. In panic, she started banging on the door.
“I do not know if anyone actually would have heard me. But it scared him enough to ask if I wanted to leave, and when I said yes, he opened the door. Before I left, he remarked that he only indulges in such an act when it’s consensual,” she said. As her career took off, Dutt worked with him on several projects.
“But he had been polite, almost excessively so, after that incident,” added Dutt.
The 2018 MeToo movement emboldened many actors to share their experiences.
That year, actor Annesha Paul shared her ordeal and even filed an official complaint against Roy with the director’s guild. But she said she was warned against making her statement public. “They had a negative approach and told me, ‘Don’t do this. He is a veteran director. You are a girl and a newbie, you will not be able to survive in society. If you want to work in this industry, don’t do this’,” said Paul.
The same year, an aspiring female actor shared a Facebook post alleging an uncomfortable interaction with director Srijit Mukherji. She wrote about how he commented on her looks and harassed her. In response, the director denied all allegations in a Facebook post of his own.
“I had categorically denied the allegations in a Facebook post back then, and I have nothing new to add,” Mukherji told ThePrint.
Incidentally, Mukherji has been at the forefront of many of the protests in Kolkata against the RG Kar incident.
“This thought process of taking advantage of women is a disease, and the only solution is punishment. Otherwise this state of affairs will continue, no matter how many complaints or rapes happen,” said Dutt.
(Edited by Humra Laeeq)
Paoli Dam and Swastika Mukherjee are most certainly not “powerful” actors. Not even average actors.
Sleaze and sex scenes does not make one a powerful actor.
To place their names alongside the venerable Aparna Sen is an insult to her.