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While a new wave of the MeToo movement has hit Kerala, especially Malayalam cinema, with numerous survivors coming forward levelling sexual misconduct allegations against men in the industry, Hindi television actor Kamya Shalabh Dang, popularly known as Kamya Punjabi, has asserted that TV is the “safest” industry, free from sexual abuse or casting couch practices.
“Television has been very clean. I don’t know what used to happen in the past but now it is very clean. There is no such filth here. People aren’t forced or blackmailed here. There is no casting couch. If you fit a role, you have talent, you will be selected for the show. I feel television is the safest place in the entertainment industry. Sexual abuse does not happen here. Whatever happens, because there is mutual consent. Nobody is telling anyone to sleep with them in the promise of a role,” Punjabi claimed during a chat with News18 Showsha.
Even while acknowledging that some actors might be “womanisers,” Kamya Punjabi maintained that even they understand the concept of consent. “Some actors are womanisers but if you stop it, if you make it very clear, such things do not happen. Nobody is being forced to do this. Aisa nahi hai ke aapko haath lagaya jaaega aur aap uncomfortable feel karoge (It’s not like someone will touch you and make you feel comfortable). If you tell them, ‘Hello, I don’t like it,’ you will not be touched. We have seen actors who get crazy for girls but nobody forces nobody,” she said.
The actor, who joined the Congress party in 2021, also made a comment that seemed to question the validity of survivors’ experiences. “I know of some people who say that such things have happened to them. But again, if a girl does not want, it will not happen. It does not happen in the television industry. I don’t know about films or OTT but it does not happen in TV,” she claimed.
Known for her roles in television serials like Reth, Astitva… Ek Prem Kahani, Banoo Mein Teri Dulhann, Piya Ka Ghar, Maryada: Lekin Kab Tak, and Kyun Hota Hai Pyaar, Kamya Punjabi has also appeared as a contestant on Comedy Circus and Bigg Boss 7. She is currently part of the romantic drama Ishq Jabariya.
Following the release of the Justice Hema Committee report in Kerala, several women have come forward with serious allegations of sexual harassment and/or assault against notable figures in the Malayalam film industry, including actors Siddique, Mukesh, Jayasurya, Maniyanpilla Raju, Edavela Babu and Baburaj, and directors Ranjith, VK Prakash and Thulasidas. Cases have already been filed against many of them.
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