Bollywood’s dark secret – a BBC investigation.

While many have talked about the MeToo moment in Hollywood and sexual harassment in Hollywood, few have discussed how prevalent it is in Bollywood, India’s largest film industry. A BBC investigation uncovered evidence that sexual harassment in Bollywood is widespread, but that for fear or recriminations few are willing to speak openly.

The Indian media didn’t cover the story, it took a BBC team to reveal the scale of the problem. We covered the story on a range of platforms, from TV to Radio to online – and our reporting made a huge impact.

It was picked up in the Indian press and started a much needed conversation around an issue which has been stigmatised. As one Indian journalist wrote, “ this documentary might be the linchpin for Bollywood’s MeToo movement.”

It was also translated into many different Indian regional languages, gaining wider coverage.

It was not easy to encourage the women to talk to us – even the big names we secured were nervous – but through sensitive reporting, persistence, and a value on the importance of this story, the team were able to highlight a very important issue, which might have otherwise gone uncovered.

Post navigation

98 Comments

  • Farhan Akhtar said nothing when his own cousin was accused by several women. He said ZERO. They are all shady people.

  • Farhan Akhter’s cousin brother Sajid Khan was accused by several women of casting couch and Farhan defended him. Hypocrisy rules Bollywood.Sajid had even accepted and stepped down from directing a movie.

  • When already in the streets of India you are not safe how you will be safe behind the closed doors of producers and casting couches?!!

    • @@sanjayvaidya4925 there’s a lot of rape happening all over the world. But in developed nations they are mostly reported. India had one of the largest unreported cases of sexual harassment and violence. Most victims may not go for a case of fear of judgement and the the Indian judiciary have not been much help either. Justice often gets denied to victims who could be anyone,young girls or boys.

    • @Pravin d lembe Pravin d lembe
      My country IS INDIA , whomever are you talking to ?
      Or you just feel you HV to say some unrelated rubbish???

    • Avid Swam.. This is such a biased statement.. i recently went to spain.. was robbed in the airport.. no police helped.. no security helped…. i was all alone.. a so called developed country

  • Most of the people are concerned about Radhika Apte’s accent but not about the serious issue that she is talking about.

  • Radhika Apte’s accent – she has lived in London for a year and her husband is British. So she hears this accent daily and it is no surprise that it has rubbed off on her. So when the reporter spoke in British accent, it was natural for her to switch accent. She’s not putting it on purpose to show off or anything.

    • Yes, people do lose some accent, but for someone born and raised in India for decades, no one, and I say no one will say ‘HARE’ for ‘here’, in a lifetime of living abroad, let alone a year. SMH.

    • I lived in Singapore for 6 years and trust me I picked up the Singaporean-Malaysian english accent. It’s totally normal folks! People blend in.

    • I’m an Indian, living in the US for 15 years. And I can guarantee you that my accent did not change from Indian to American in “one year”. Accents take a lot of time to change…. yeah so yes, infact she IS putting a show on purpose.

    • @@bdancestars it depends on person to person really. Ive the most fucked up, French, indian and American accent, it’s a cocktail! Ever heard Christian Bale interviews, he’s english but speaks in a cocktail of American, Scottish and Brit accent. To be honest there is absolutely no rule. I’ve only seen desis cringing when they hear anybody with an accent other than Indian. In Paris , i once met a frenchman who had lived in India for 15 years and was talking in Indian english intonation. As Rohit S mentioned above, accents kinda rub off on you.

  • This is what happens when they speak up.. Some will criticize the accent, some will criticize the girl.. This situation has not been built only by producers, this situation has also been created by public. We all are responsible for it..

    • @@LP-zc6rh watching movies or doing drugs isnt what causes it… Us being unaware on the topic, ignoring what happens around us,victim blaming

      accidentally, trying to deny it’s existence, being a bystander, not trying to educate ourselves and people around us on the topic and how to solve the social issue…

      And so on due to unawareness is what causes it and we all try to avoid responsibility till it comes on us or our loved ones…..

      (Simple support or hate in online comment section on online responses itself can help or hurt a cause or social issue..)..

      Doing some of this doesn’t always necessarily mean you’re a bad person because most of us do that at some point accidentally due to unawareness and that doesn’t mean it’s ok but it means it’s changeable and we nneed to educate n improve ourselves..

  • The entire 16 mins documentary of a very bold topic came flushing down to RADHIKA APTE’S ACCENT. That’s us Indians. Welcome to India

  • Just imagine, the best actresses ever, may have never been discovered, because they said no to sleeping with some1.That’s a loss to the whole world.

  • Feel so bad listening to the young girls story about how the director molested her… She was treated like an object.. These men need to be in jail as sexual offenders

    • I honestly don’t think it’s wrong to try and improve her accent. Why is it such an issue. If it makes her feel good then what is the issue. You’ll find that the same people who are judging her for such a simple thing have done crazy things in life and yet they judge her

  • Those who are mocking Radhika Apte for her accent should know,when you are living in an English speaking country for a long time and talking with them everyday it’s normal to pressurise some words while talking.Nothing to mock about It happens to me as well.People thinks I’m trying to fake my accent.I have an Indian accent but sometimes its feels different while talking.
    NB:After all she is a FABULOUS actress.That is all.

    • @@munnahatelabumbojaan3155 so? That was meant to be viewed in an artistic way, not to ignite your hormones, atleast she doesn’t sleep with directors and play savitri in public 😆

    • She’s also slept with ppl, only now she is acting like this because she got good roles and wants to act all good

    • @@ellayhashimi7497 exactly today after achieving so much of success she has suddenly woke up …. where was she when she was harassed by aditya pancholi in the beginning
      Why she waited for so long
      Why didn’t she leave BOLLYWOOD there and then …. hypocrite no. 1 kangana

    • I don’t see Kangna in this video? she only speaks about things she can benefit from otherwise she stays silent. she was sleeping with pancholi willingly it’s not like she was forced to do it but when she realized she’s not gonna get anything out of him she threw him under the bus and ruined his career and got huge publicity for herself. she’s part of the problem

    • plz see my comment and all indians show me the solidarity that kicked these whites out of here 70 years ago.

  • The Khans, Bacchans, Bhatts and Kapoors all were silent on this. Amir Khan never talked about remuneration discrimination and casting couch on Satyamev Jaayete, that happen in his own industry.

    • It’s really ironical how they made udta punjab and battled with high courts and vocal about it for relase and censership when there own drug racket is exposed not a single voice is comming out of bollywood except kangana ranaut.

    • @@sarikajoshi7156 she is not raising her voice she simply is clearing herway to get people’s sympathy making allegations against everyone!
      She also said that 99% ppl do drugs in the industry so according to her only she is the 1%sati savitri who never did a wrong thing and is a genuine “queen”

    • @@ashimasharma360 she accepted that she had drug addiction…later she came out of it. Even if she’s making her way, atleat she’s exposing real face na!? Unlike any other who make their way by praising khans and kapoors.
      She chose better way to make her way….xd

    • @@sharath8749 yeah! Definitely she is a grt actor but haven’t u heard abt her claim on having affair with ajay devgan,pancholi and Hrithik (don’t know about any other mentioned here but she definitely had a imaginary one with hrithik as their case was taken to court and she couldn’t prove it as ‘her evidences were destroyed’ and HR proved himself correct) so definitely she needed not name of any khan nd kapoor as she stepped on these names through her pr team and became famous as name for a homewreker for kajol and ajay broke up with her as he wanted kajol to come back(as she had gone away from their home for a atleast a month) But this affair got her limelight and everyone knows about how she tried to destroy HR’s name just for the sake of more nd more limelight through the fake edited pic of them when they were enacting movie scenes(Suzane was also present ther and even after her divorce she supported him and told wht had happened to media) And the media(her paid one)!! God they only showed about kangana’s side and didn’t showed HR’s as ‘how can a woman lie in terms of love’. Plus he didn’t divorce Suzanne because of kangana it was cause she had an affair with Rampal and also the custody of children went to him So u can see what a good man he is And what a ‘selfade woman’ she is. About pancholi her first film (debut) was with his first boyfriend so…. u know what a ‘outsider’ she is. And then speaks against nepotism!! What a joke and questions Hrithik,Alia,Ranbir and other talented nepo products acting. Just watch HR in guzaarish and her in rascals and tell who’s better.
      Adding to one more point that she used ssr’s name for her own benefit to drag out nepotism for her self WHEN SHE HERSELF USED SO MANY NAMES FOR HER OWN benefit and still isn’t ashamed of calling a protesting woman farmer’100 rupee me milti h’ being a lady HERSELF and disrespecting a woman don’t forget how she threw sonu sood out of manikarnika just because he wanted that his character shall not be reduced(yes she was reducing his character through her power and says she supports outsiders if she actually supports outsider she shall keep better actors in her film as Anushka being a producer. Also she kept Anikta lokhande in manikarnika to make sush fell bad about leaving her and at first supporting gully boy and then saying it is bad film after the unfortunate demise of ssr.) And din’t give credits for the Simran editor(ik it is a job of the director to do it but she forced him to do it and said she would leave the movie if not done so. She became the director of manikarnika half way as the original director left the crew beacuse of that demanding and fighting without any reason behaviour of hers (u see not even peecee a global icon can do that as even her character was cut in the middle of film ‘Agneepath’ she merely had 20
      _30mins and that too without any proper reason but because of the personal grude of kjo producer of agneepath). And then she has the courage to say no director takes her cause she is a outsider when the truth is she is very fighting spirited and why would someone want to leave the film midway(directors)
      She never was a good woman but yeah a perfect actor

  • It’s really a wonderful thing that Bollywood is getting exposed even on international levels. More of them sd come n speak openly. We need to clean Bollywood completely. Boycott Bollywood until it gets clean

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Optimized by Optimole