11 female filmmakers including Gauri Shinde, Meghna Gulzar, Nandita Das vow 'not to work with proven offenders'

Nandita Das, Meghna Gulzar, Alankrita Shrivastava, Gauri Shinde are among the 11 female filmmakers who have now taken a stand for the growing #MeToo movement in the Hindi film industry. The filmmakers released an official statement on their social media pages announcing their collective decision to not work with any 'proven offenders' henceforth and create an 'equal and safe working place' for women in the industry. 

Das shared the statement on her Facebook page, which read, "As women and filmmakers, we come together to support the #MeTooIndia movement. We are in complete solidarity with the women who have come forward with honest accounts of assault and harassment."

The list also includes Ruchi Narain, Shonali, Bose, Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti, Nitya Mehra, Konkona Sensharma and Kiran Rao. 

Rao, one of the founders of the Mumbai Academy of Moving Images (MAMI), had put out a statement when the accusations against actor-filmmaker Rajat Kapoor and Utsav Chakraborty, one of members of the comedy collective called AIB, had come out. The MAMI-organized Mumbai Film Festival has also dropped Kapoor's upcoming film, Kadakh, as well as AIB's Chintu Ka Birthday from their line-up. 

The filmmakers' move comes days after actor-producers Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar put out statements of not working with directors accused of being sexual offenders. Actor Emraan Hashmi also revealed the inclusion of anti-sexual harassment clauses in his company's contract henceforth. 

The #MeToo movement broke out on social media after the stand taken by Tanushree Dutta against actor Nana Patekar on a case of sexual harassment led to more revelations about prominent names of actors, directors and producers in the industry. 

Among those accused of misbehaviour are actor Alok Nath, director Vikas Bahl, producer Bhushan Kumar, lyricist Vairamuthu, singer Kailash Kher, directors Rajat Kapoor and Subhash Ghai. The movement has also spread with women from other industries  — journalism, advertising and business — naming men for harassment. One prominent name is that of former editor and union minister, MJ Akbar, who has been accused by 11 different women.