Bollywood screenwriter Kanika Dhillon is fuming with rage after coming across Navjot Gulati’s “sexist and misogynistic tweet”, and has only one question to ask him — Who did you sleep with to get Jai Mummy Di credit?
“If this gentleman thinks that getting married is the way forward, I would request him to marry every CEO of all the production houses, and see if it takes him anywhere, or he gets the credit. If he doesn’t get it even after marrying, he should come and apologise to me,” emphasises Dhillon.
The anger is a result of writer-director Gulati’s tweet which read, “If you want top billing as a Screenwriter in a trailer (something that should be the norm) You need to marry into the production house. Once the Writer becomes a family member, is treated like an Actor-Star. #Goals.”
He was referencing Dhillon getting a separate writer’s credit slate in the recently released trailer of Haseen Dillruba, and also took a dig at her marriage with writer-producer Himanshu Sharma, who has co-produced the Taapsee Pannu starrer Haseen Dillruba.
She gave him back for discrediting her work, saying “your pea sized brain will not be able to process a successful woman making it on her own”, following which Gulati wrote a lengthy clarification note asserting that his quip was misunderstood.
While labelling him the poster boy of sociopath sexist behaviour, the writer, credited for films such as Manmarziyaan and Kedarnath, explains, “After being slammed left, right and centre, he will come up with silly excuses”.
“The point is that you are so short-sighted and have a pea-sized brain. He needs to expand his thoughts. And don’t think even for once that you can pass these sexist slurs and get away with it. No one will let you do that,” she asserts.
Dhillon continues, “It is a classic sexist behaviour wherein you make a remark and then shrug off as a joke.”
Expressing her views, the writer compares Gulati with a person sitting in a “paan ki dukaan” passing lewd remarks.
“Jaise woh ladke bethe hote hai dukaan pe aur ladkiyun ko chhedte hain. These are people who question women when they get success in their life. Kyunki unko digest nahi hoti ke women can make it on their own. You are actually denying women the capability to be successful on their own merit,” she adds, hoping that women from his family get success and don’t ever encounter men “who have such a disgusting mindset”.
While Gulati claims that his intention was to bring the issue of writers getting their due credit in limelight, Dhillon is in no mood to accept the explanation, as she puts, “the message is not interpreted as sexist — it is sexist”.
“This is about writing credit which should have been a welcome step by all the writers in the industry. But he seems to be tone deaf and seems to have no concept of what the entire thing is about,” she lashes out.
How? “When a writer does get a credit you start crying ke isko kyu. That is because your sexism has taken over common sense. So get in your senses and join us in moving forward. Me getting a credit by Netflix is a result of all the voices and concerns before me,” the writer tells us.
Dhillon is not alone fighting this battle. Many celebs, including Pannu, Aniruddha Guha, Bejoy Nambiar and Vivek Agnihotri, have come forward to support her.
“Sexism is working on so many levels. I am glad so many women and men came to support me. By calling out one sexist, you shut down 100 sexists. Saath aake inse nahi ladenge toh kuch nahi badlega. This is a very important step to tackle this issue,” she expresses, adding that it is “job of every woman to be responsible towards this cause, and not only look out for herself, and other women”.
She ends with a suggestion for him, “Next time, don’t be sly, sexist and keep chanting the title of your film — Jai Mummy Di ten times a day!”
