“I’m shaken and broken but not finished yet.” In this explosive, exclusive interview with Subhash K Jha, actor Tanushree Dutta, who was the pioneer of the MeToo movement in Bollywood, reveals the deep rooted conspiracy to finish off her career, and perhaps to finish her off too.
Apparently, you feel there is a conspiracy to hurt your career and perhaps cause you damage too?
I do feel something weird is going on in Bollywood about me. Especially in the last one-one-and-a-half years. Everything was fine even after 2018 #Metoo up until around April 2021. I had returned to India from the US in Sept 2020 and I was meeting people, finalizing and signing films. People even offering me big money to star in their projects, which included films, a biopic, brand collaborations, etc. I earned that position and I’m generally blessed so all this wasn’t unexpected. Some big filmmakers and banners were also warming up about casting me. Things were going great. That was the level of interest in the film industry. Very very good response!! Lot of respect for everything I did. No threats or weirdness also of any kind to my health or life up until then.
Then what happened?
Something or someone got involved around April 2021 to actively target me, my projects, my contacts, my future prospects and my health, wellbeing and peace of mind. Efforts were made to dismantle everything and it sort of worked except that I’m still alive and hopeful of the future.
What do you think happened, and who is behind it?
Some of my friends –I cannot disclose who they are—whom I discussed all this with, suspect some kind of underworld or hired hand involvement. It’s being investigated covertly through personal contacts and their suspicion is that they also somehow involved people that I was talking to. It’s a bit strange but a lot of my communications, it seems were being forwarded to some kind of a Whatsapp chat group. While I was in Ujjain, a Saintly figure informed me that a lot of tantriks in small dingy dark places in Maharashtra have been hired to do some black magic type “maaran kriya” on me. I’m yet to understand this stuff very well but I believed them as this stuff exists.
You had a near-fatal car accident in May 2022?
Yes, the break fail accident in Ujjain surely was no coincidence. The negative elements in society usually work together to be more effective. None of it will work of course, but I really wish to know what is going on and I wish for all this to be exposed to everyone too.
Are you frightened?
It was indeed very scary for me for a while. The physical attack and the spiritual mishaps were too obvious to ignore after they were pointed out by credible sources. It’s confusing, to say the least as it’s all so clandestine and covert and one is never prepared to deal with this sort of thing. Luckily, I have a very strong, solid upbringing and I am coming out much better from all this. I’m shaken and broken but not finished yet.
How exactly are you hoping to resolve this scary situation?
I really wish to throw light on all this and I wish it gets totally exposed somehow. Efforts were also made to show me as someone losing my mind by discrediting me. I don’t know how many people they have managed to convince of my insanity and what all they have convinced them to do thereafter. My Insta Live sessions saved me from being branded crazy; people can tell for themselves when you are open and communicative. It all sounds so familiar with a familiar modus operandi. That’s why my contacts told me to just lay low till they figure it out with proof.
All this sounds incredible and scary!
There are a few bonafide psychos who will go to any lengths. I’ve got to just be still and ride this wave over. I will be fine I’m sure but this will go in my biopic for sure some day!! I thought of running away many times but I’ve just decided to stay. I won’t fight, I won’t run, I won’t hide, I won’t give up and I won’t die either. Till I figure out what all of this is I’ll just stay put.. Period!!
Do you feel Bollywood is going through its darkest period?
My intuition says that a lot of darkness in Bollywood’s upper echelons will be out in the sunlight. I just don’t understand how. But a miracle of some sort will manifest itself. This is just the beginning. There is a sort of a malignancy in Bollywood ..a cancer so to say, that has stayed hidden too long. It’s all happening because of that. It’s time has come…until that gets exposed and expelled like Lucifer from heaven.. this stuff will continue. Everyone will realise eventually.. the proof has been in the pudding all along. Too much pain.. too many casualties. Because a few didn’t choose therapy or salvation for themselves, the rest are paying the price. No more, this is the end of that…It’s always darkest before dawn. Dawn is near. I am sure it is.
Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.
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