With dozens of sexual harassment case involving top Hollywood personalities, seeing the light lately, Bollywood actress Vidya Balan opened up about the clamour in a recent interview. Out to promote her upcoming comedy 'Tumhari Sulu', Balan said, “You can't judge when women should speak about it or why they didn't speak about it earlier.” She also addressed the “culture of silence” and whether it existed in the Indian film fraternity.
“I am a living example of the fact that not everyone is a predator. I come from a privileged background, so I always gave the vibe that I don't need this, I'm only doing this as a passion, I'm very serious about this... But I won't react with people in a way that was personal. Almost err on the side of caution. Maybe it's also a middle-class thing. If you smelt a rat, you'd rather keep away. That was my way of protecting myself,” she said. Balan said, “But I have heard of people who had been absolutely fine with me, going and threatening, propositioning other women and I would tell some of them you shouldn't keep quiet about it and they would say, 'I don't want to be known for this controversy'. And there's also fear that other producers won't give you work. It seems like if you speak about it, people won't want to work with you.”
Balan said she has not faced casting couch herself, but said it is because she deliberately walked away before anyone could say anything.
