Mukesh Khanna defends sexist statement: ‘I am not worried that the female community will turn against me’

Veteran actor Mukesh Khanna is defending his recent controversial comment that many have dubbed sexist. Mukesh has said in an interview that women should not compete with men and stay at home while the men go to work.

Taking to Instagram, Mukesh shared a full 10 minute clip from the interview and wrote, “I am not against Women Working. As I said let me show you my full interview taken by someone from which this ‘Vivadit Bayan’ has been taken to malign me that I mean This which I don’t mean. I was just commenting on how Me too can happen. You can see yourself in this interview how I respect women,” he said.

He also shared an old video of himself talking about the Me Too movement. In the caption he wrote, “I am really surprised that one of my statements is being taken very wrongly. I am being told I am against women. Hardly anyone would have the respect I have for women. That is why I opposed the name LAXMI BOMB. I am concerned about the safety of women. I have spoken against every rape case. Some people have made a noise about the clipping of one of my interviews.”

“I never said that women should not work. I was just going to tell how Me Too starts. In our country, women have made their way into every field. Then whether she is a defense minister, finance minister, foreign minister or in space, everywhere women have waved their glory. So how can I be against working for a woman.

“In that video interview, I was just throwing light on the problems that can arise from women working outside the home. Like the children of the house are left alone. I was talking about male and female dharma, which has been going on for thousands of years,” he said.

“I did not say that MeToo happens when women go out. A year ago, I made a video on this topic, which I want to show you that even then I had said that how the women should guard themselves at their place of work. I still did not say that women should not go to work. So how can I say that today?”

“I want to tell all my friends that do not misrepresent my statement. My last forty years, my film journey confirms that I have always respected women. Every artist or member of every film unit knows that I have always respected everyone. If any woman has been hurt by this statement, I am sorry that I could not put my point correctly.”

“I am not worried that the female community will turn against me. They don’t even have to be. My life is an open book. Everyone knows how I have lived and how I am living. I want to show you the entire interview from which this clipping is taken. You will know what I think about women,” he wrote.

In the interview, given to The Filmy Charcha, the actor said, “Aurat ka kaam hai ghar sambhalna, jo maaf karna mein kabhi kabhi bol hi jata hu (the job of a woman is to take care of the house). Problem kaha se shuru hui hai #MeToo ki jab aurato ne bhi kaam karna shuru kar diya (the problem of #MeToo began when women started working). Aaj aurat mard ke saath kandhe se kandha milane ki baat karti hai (today, women talk about walking shoulder-to-shoulder with men).”

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He had continued, “Log women’s lib ki baat karenge, lekin main aapko bata doon, problem yahin se shuru hoti hai (People talk about women’s liberation, but let me tell you that where the problem begins). Sabse pehla jo member suffer karta hai woh ghar ka bachcha suffer karta hai, jisko maa nahi milti (the first person who suffers is the child, because he doesn’t have a mother taking care of him at home). Aaya ke saath baith kar Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi dekh raha hota hai (he sits and watches TV with his nanny all day). Jab se shuruat hui, tab se yeh bhi shuruat hui ke main bhi wohi karungi jo mard karta hai. Nahi, mard mard hai aurat aurat hai (It all began when women started saying that they want to do what men do. No, a man is a man and a woman is a woman.).” He said that he understood that in the ‘modern world’, this might not be an acceptable thing to say.

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