Filmmaker Ashoke Pandit on Saturday condemned Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi's statement that films have been promoting sexual violence against women.
Talking to ANI, Pandit said that Maneka Gandhi's statement is condemnable, and, in fact, a majority of the films teach what is right and what is wrong.
Requesting the minister not to undermine the importance of the film industry, he said, "We respect women the way you respect."
He reminded Maneka Gandhi that women oriented cinema right form Shyam Benegal to Madhur Bhandarkar has been made by this film industry.
He said the film industry has been entertaining crores of people and "entertaining people is really a tough job".
The filmmaker reminded Maneka that "the biggest criminal act in this country was during the emergency and she was part and parcel of the family responsible for it".
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He said if somebody drinks at home or beats up his wife then it is his basic trait and blaming film industry for it is not right.
Gandhi, while addressing a gathering on the rising violence against women at Goa Fest 2017 in Panaji, blamed the feature movies for promoting sexual harassment of women.
She was of the view that indecent representation of women in Bollywood and regional cinema was the main reason behind violence against the women.
"Romance in almost every film starts with eve teasing, be it Hindi or in regional films," she said.
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