During a time when the horrors of Kathua and Unnao are still fresh in our minds, Padmaavat actor Jim Sarbh's 'rape' joke hasn't gone down well with people. What's made them more angry is Kangana Ranaut's reaction to it. She, who was one of the very few Bollywood celebs who had condemned Salman Khan's rape statement last year, is now being slammed and termed a hypocrite for cracking up at his insensitive joke.
In a video that has gone viral, Jim is heard cracking a rather tasteless joke at an event on the sidelines of the Cannes International Film Festival: "I'd rather be raped by 12 prostitutes than touch alcohol and the Punjabi says 'Me too, I didn't know that was an option'." God knows for what reason, but this had Kangana and the rest of the people attending the party in splits.
If Jim's representatives are to be believed, then that actor was enacting parts of a play, which is a dark satire, in his private place when this video was shot without his consent. His comments were taken out of context, they allege.
When BollywoodLife reached out to Jim, he clarified, “First of all, I understand the environment we live in just now, in light of recent events, but more frankly, in light of events going on since the beginning of human consciousness, rape is a deadly serious issue. I treat it as such. The joke that I made is about a Priest blowing a very casual question completely out of proportion, condemning alcohol, prostitutes, and rape all simultaneously. The Punjabi (or whichever ethnicity, depending on the audience) responds to the situation by consenting to it and expressing his sexual proclivities. I personally do not find it to be about a desire to rape, or to inflict sexual violence upon another, but a subversive and comedic response to an extremely volatile sentence.”
Jim further explained his stance on rape, as he added, “I did not intend to hurt anybody, and I certainly do not consider actual sexual or physical violence funny.”
Unfortunately Bollywood personalities are still looked upon as harbingers of change and the youth relies on them for leading the conversation on subjects like sexual violence and child abuse. It's high time that we all understand that making such a preposterous comment wouldn't be accepted even if it's made at a party in a country far,far away.
Rape is a bad word and it shouldn't be seen/used in any other way. Period!
Here's how people reacted to the incident on Twitter -
