I wish I had experienced #MeToo: Preity Zinta

43-year-old actor's statement went viral for all the wrong reasons

“This MeToo movement,” Bollywood starlet Preity Zinta, said air quoting the words, "if it is this much (signals to show a small amount) in the film industry, it is that much (signals to show a bigger amount) in every other industry. Having said that the film industry is one of the safest places, there are some of the most decent people I’ve worked with so I feel really bad when people say this industry is really bad.”

The 43-year-old actor's comments on the ongoing movement in one of her recent interviews went viral for all the wrong reasons. Her stance on #MeToo was so problematic that it caused Twitter outrage.

While the Kya Kehna actor said she was glad that the movement has gained momentum in India, she believes it is "important that women use it for the right thing because there are men and women who would use the position of their power for their advantage."

She said, "There are small percentage of women that are using it, and they’re diluting the movement but there are also women who have gone through all these and we have heard so many stories in the industry."

"If you want to acknowledge that there is a problem, you have to first admit that at least there is (one) and then you solve the problem," Zinta added.

The actor was further asked if she has ever experienced any kind of bad behaviour in the industry, to which she replied, "No, I haven’t, I wish I had,” she laughed. “At least, then, I would have had an answer to tell you."

Zinta further shared that there are good and bad people everywhere, not just in the entertainment industry. So, according to her, instead of calling them out, the better resolve would be to change yourself.


“There is nothing you can do to change the world and the only thing you can do is to change yourself," commented the Veer-Zaara actor.

"So if you go there, saying ‘I'll do anything’, then you will be stupid to ask me not to do anything. But if I am coming here and saying that I am going to work really hard, I will do anything to work hard and I have no other nonsense to entertain, you will not (face anything)... If you feel that I am good at what I am doing, you are going to be like ‘theek hai (okay), you work.’ And I am a walking example of that. So I don't believe any of the other things people have to say."

She then giggled and quips, “Though I heard a line – aaj ki Sweetu kal ki MeToo ho sakti hai (Today’s Sweetu can become tomorrow’s Me Too). So don't hang out with any Sweetu.”

After Zinta faced severe backlash, she took to Twitter to clarify her controversial remarks. She lashed out at Faridoon Shahryar (a known Indian journalist) for editing the interview in a debatable way.

"Really sad to see how the interview is edited to trivialise and be insensitive. Not everything is traction and as someone being interviewed, I expected decency and maturity from a journalist. I did 25 interviews that day and only yours turned out edited like this," she wrote.

I’m really suprised & upset that journalists like @iFaridoon take an interview & edit it to sound controversial for better traction. If I said “I wish someone had bothered me” - it meant I would have probable beaten them up if they had... Interviews taken out of context #Metoo

— Preity G Zinta (@realpreityzinta) November 19, 2018

"I’m really surprised and upset that journalists like Faridoon take an interview and edit it to sound controversial for better traction. If I said “I wish someone had bothered me” - it meant I would have probable beaten them up if they had. Interview is taken out of context," added Zinta.

Really sad 2see how the interview Is edited to trivialis& be insensitive. Not everything is traction & as someone being interviewed I expected decency & maturity froma journalist @iFaridoon. I did 25 interviews that day & only yours turned out edited like this #dissappointed

— Preity G Zinta (@realpreityzinta) November 19, 2018

However, here's an advice to the sound: Making a joke out of such a revolutionary movement for women as woman herself is despicable.

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