Upala KBR (DNA; March 22, 2017)

Raveena Tandon Thadani has cancelled plans to promote her upcoming movie Maatr — The Mother on The Viral Fever (TVF), following the sexual harassment allegations against Arunabh Kumar, Founder and CEO, TVF, an online entertainment platform that satirises Indian politics, movies, lifestyle, and the social system.

Says a source, “Raveena was to promote the movie on TVF’s platform but canned the idea after the controversy. She doesn’t want to be associated with the brand until they are cleared of the charges. She is waiting for all the facts to come out before she decides to promote her film with them. She is a strong advocate of women’s empowerment and will not associate with any person or company that undermines women.”

Reasons for opting out
Maatr co-producer Anjum Rizvi confirms, “Raveena’s character is a working woman. Our film has been inspired by incidents which are happening in India today. Right now, we felt we should not get into it, so we have opted out of the TVF show. It’s a sensitive issue and we have to handle everything with care and not use whatever tools and means possible. We need to be careful of how we promote the film.”

Rizvi adds, “Raveena is a vocal personality and doesn’t mince her words so we have a spokesperson anyway who will do all the talking! She is also involved in every aspect of the film as the subject is very close to her heart. She is excited about the film as it is relevant to what is happening. As filmmakers, we can raise issues, though we can’t come up with solutions. We are just highlighting the issue. It’s not a true story, but talks about whether women should or should not take law into their hands and how long they should wait for justice to be meted out.”

Giving it a miss
Confirms the actress, “I was not aware of the controversy as I was in New York and in the middle of a snow storm. Our film deals with a very strong message about zero tolerance to any form of violence or abuse against women — the film’s producers and actors feel that until allegations against the producer and the channel are proved wrong, we will refrain from promoting the film or any of the actors appearing on the said show.”