Actors also use their sexuality to get things done: Ekta Kapoor
Mumbai: Indian film and television personality Ekta Kapoor says there are powerful producers who use their position to exploit aspirants in showbiz, but then there are also actors who use their sexuality to get work.
Ekta made the comment amid the hullabaloo over sexual harassment allegations that emerged across showbiz globally after several names in Hollywood came out against producer Harvey Weinstein, followed by complaints against a slew of actors and filmmakers.
She was present along with actress Nimrat Kaur on Mirror Now's show "The Town Hall", hosted by journalist Barkha Dutt. She was asked if a Harvey Weinstein also exists in Bollywood, and if the #MeToo campaign has helped women come out with their story in the entertainment industry.
Ekta said: "Well, I think there are Harvey Weinstein in Bollywood, but there is probably an equal number of Harvey Weinstein on the other side of the story, but people do not want to talk about that part. Yes, there are people in power like producers who use their power to take advantage of people, but at the same time there are people on the other side, like an actor or others who need the job, would also use their sexuality to get things done.
"Therefore, I believe that predators should not be put in a box based on power. It is always not true that the person who does not have power is the victim,.
Citing an example, Ekta said: "Being a producer, on a personal level when I talk to my male counterparts, they said they were propositioned blatantly. Is that person not a predator?
"In our industry, if one actor meets a producer at 2 a.m. and hooks up with him and after five days, if she wants a job based on that and the producer doesn't give the job because he wants personal and professional things separate, then who is the victim here? The interpretation is always that the powerful person took advantage of the poor little budding actor or something that is always not the truth."
Ekta's father Jeetendra was earlier this month accused of sexually harassing his cousin, who came forward to file a police complaint 47 years after the alleged incident. Jeetendra dubbed the charges as "baseless," and a "miserable effort by a jealous competitor to disrupt his business activities."
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Sunrisers Hyderabad scrape to 162/5 against wily Mumbai Indians in IPL clash
Mumbai, Apr 17 (PTI): Sunrisers Hyderabad found late momentum with the bat to fight their way through and post 162 for 5 against Mumbai Indians on a tricky pitch in their Indian Premier League match here on Thursday.
With the surface at the Wankhede Stadium providing grip and turn for the spinners and slower deliveries giving dividends to the pace bowlers, Sunrisers Hyderabad batters struggled to adapt to the wicket for most part of the innings.
But a big finish -- 57 runs coming off the last five overs -- gave SRH some much-needed impetus towards the end.
MI bowlers were spot-on in formulating their plans and near-perfect in their execution with Jasprit Bumrah delivering a measly 4-0-21-1, Trent Boult nailing his yorkers again to return 4-0-29-1 and Will Jacks producing an impressive 3-0-14-2.
The SRH struggle was evident from the start even as Abhishek Sharma stroked his way to 40 off 28 balls with seven boundaries.
It all started with an eventful first over when the two SRH openers got a reprieve each off Deepak Chahar.
Abhishek went down the wicket, swinging his bat on the first delivery. The ball shaped away slightly to take the edge but Jacks failed to get hold of it.
On the fourth delivery, Travis Head played one straight to Karn Sharma at midwicket where he failed to pluck a low catch as the ball fell just short of him.
Abhishek looked to be hitting his strides when he smacked three fours off Chahar in the fifth over but there was just no momentum gained.
If Karn had failed to judge the catch early on, substitute fielder Raj Angad Bawa did not when Abhishek hit one off Hardik Pandya in the eighth over towards sweeper cover.
Bawa timed his dive to grab the ball for the first breakthrough and by the time Abhishek was dismissed, it was evident that SRH would have to scrape their way through to a competitive total on this wicket.
Jacks then snaffled the key wicket of Ishan Kishan by getting the former MI player stumped for a mere two.
At the other end, Head was unable to open up even as he tried his best to cut loose. Despite having caught off a no-ball with Pandya overstepping in the 10th over, Head failed to capitalise as he fell for an ordinary 29-ball 28.
Such was the impact of MI’s control that the first six of the game came as late as in the 18th over -- the best one of SRH’s innings — when Heinrich Klaasen (37 off 28 balls, 3x4s, 2x6s) took 21 runs to spoil Chahar’s figures (4-0-47-0).
In the final over, Aniket Verma hit a couple of sixes and Pat Cummins smacked one to take vital 22 runs off Pandya.
