It looks like the thin line between comedy and casual sexism is blurred with every passing day, and it has the potential to divide people on either side of the battles, with their own views on the same.
The controversy between Akshay Kumar and Mallika Dua over a comment made by the former on the show, The Great Indian Laughter Challenge recently caused quite a stir in the media. During a moment on the show, a clip emerged of the actor telling the comedian “Mallika ji aap bell bajaaiye, main aapko bajaata hoon” which was later taken in objection by both Mallika and her father Vinod Dua and labelled as sexist.
The controversy broke out after Mallika was let go off from The Great Indian Laughter Challenge, the show on which Akshay is also a judge, and Twitter seems to be divided on the timeliness of her comment on his casual sexism. While some raised questions on why she didn’t bring up the issue in the week that it occurred, others support Mallika, stating the obvious sexist environment that thrives within the industry, that women have to fight on a daily basis.
Mallika Dua further went on to explain that the problem doesn’t just have to do with Akshay Kumar, but “about every big Bollywood star and every other big shot, who cannot tell the difference between charm and harm’.
Source: Mallika Dua on Twitter
While Akshay Kumar has kept mum on the issue so far, Twinkle Khanna took to Twitter to express her own opinion on the matter.
Source: Twinkle Khanna on Twitter
Shortly after, she also posted a picture of a couple of one-line jokes on the matter; captioning it as “I couldn’t resist these two and after this, I am done 🙂 #LameJokes”
Nobody can say for certain if this issue will be put to bed anytime soon. Twinkle Khanna has been a flagbearer of feminism for quite some time now, using her humour to combat any inappropriate remark that comes her way. But in this case, Khanna is blatantly taking her husband’s side because Kumar’s comment was definitely out of line, making a woman visibly uncomfortable at her workplace.
Meanwhile, Khanna has chosen to not comment on the controversy any further and focused her attention on the poster release of R. Balki’s movie Padman, for which she is also the producer.
The movie is based on the true-life story of Arunachalam Muruganantham, the inventor of a low-cost sanitary pad making machine, who raised awareness about the need of affordable sanitary products for menstruating women in India. The movie is due to release on Republic Day 2018
Source: Twinkle Khanna
