Actor and former member of the executive committee of CINTAA Amit Behl He has spoken out about the handling of the MeToo movement in the entertainment industry, saying that while most of the allegations were true, some cases were unfounded. Tanushree Duttacase against Nana Patekar and director Horn Ok Pleasss Rakesh Sarang. Amit also reflected on the emotional impact the movement had on him and the sensational names that emerged at the time.
“70% of the cases were real, but 30% were fake”
Talking about the MeToo movement, Amit told Siddharth Kannan, “70% of the cases were genuine, but 30% were fake.” Referring to the case that sparked the movement in Bollywood, he said that he personally felt that the allegations leveled by Tanushree Dutta lacked sufficient substance.“Personally, I felt the case that sparked the movement initially lacked enough substance. There was no physical assault involved, it was more about body shaming,” Tanushree said while referring to the allegations against Nana Patekar and Rakesh Sarang, director of the 2009 film Horn Ok Pleassss.
“Some of the names really surprised me”
Amit further revealed that he was very shaken to see several prominent names appearing in the MeToo wave. “I won’t name names, but there were some names that really surprised me. I’m still surprised today. They’re probably secrets I’ll take to my grave,” he said.According to him, the accused included producers, actors and directors. “Some tried to pressure us to cover their side, sometimes politely, sometimes through the media,” he added.He also recalled that while some accused persons strongly denied the accusations, others tried to influence the narrative surrounding their cases.
“The movement also brought positive change”
While criticizing some of the allegations, Amit acknowledged that the move had brought about significant structural changes in the entertainment industry.“As a result of this move, many buried issues came out. POSH committees were formed. Today, all major production houses and channels have guidelines and internal committees, be it Netflix, Amazon, Excel Entertainment or Rajan Shahi’s office,” he said.Amit also quoted casting director Mukesh Chhabra while discussing how workplaces started prominently displaying POSH committee information after the movement gained momentum.
“Listening to the survivors was traumatic”
The actress also opened up about the emotional impact of hearing survivors recount their experiences in detail. Amit recalled representing CINTAA at a media panel along with other survivors including actress Raveena Tandon and writer-producer Vinta Nanda.“Listening to them felt like watching a horror movie unfold in front of me,” he admitted. “That day, for the first time, I felt ashamed of being a man.”She added that the experience left her emotionally drained for months, especially while balancing acting assignments and late-night calls recounting her traumatic experiences.Amit revealed that prolonged stress eventually took its toll on his health.“I carried the burden of the whole world on my shoulders. Finally, I had bypass surgery. Fortunately, by God’s grace, I recovered,” he said.
