Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar has come under fire for a ‘joke’ he made about comedian Mallika Dua on the sets of ‘The Great Indian Laughter Challenge’.
According to Firstpost, the format of the show required the mentors and the judge to ring a bell when impressed by a contestant’s performance. In a leaked video, when Mallika Dua reaches to ring the bell, Akshay says,”Mallika ji aap bell bajao, main aapko bajata hoon." The Hindi word 'bajaana' has sexual connotations colloquially.
Veteran journalist and Mallika Dua’s father Vinod Dua lashed out at the actor in a Facebook post, where he wrote “I am going to screw this cretin Akshay Kumar for telling his co-worker Mallika Dua that “aap bell bajao main aap ko bajata hun”. This is his sense of humour and language. Star Plus..wake up..”. The post has been removed.
Sorry to quash your hunger for sensationalism but Facebook and perhaps a copyright claim had it removed. Find something better to do. pic.twitter.com/c9zwEslJgA
— Mallika Dua (@MallikaDua) October 26, 2017
"I don't expect an apology from Star Plus as they have not aired this episode. But I expect an apology from this fellow (Akshay)," Vinod Dua told IANS.
This comment was allegedly made last month, where Mallika, along with Zakir Khan and Hussain Dalal were mentors and Akshay Kumar was the judge on the show. The comment was edited out from the telecast, and Mallika, Zakir and Hussain have been replaced on the show since.
Mallika, who has been a part of many videos including ones by comedy group AIB, has been trolled on social media because of the work she has done earlier, and why she didn’t speak over the span of the last month.
This is u, right?
— Akshay Kumar (@KattarAkkian01) October 25, 2017
U r kicked out from the show. Now u r seeking for public's attention by @akshaykumar name. Shameless. pic.twitter.com/8EbCoSfahg
Coming from a lady who've depicted Tinder Aunt in 2 of her videos & making sexual jokes about male body parts every now & then.
— Hammad Azhari Qadri (@ihammad91) October 25, 2017
U r kicked out from the show. Now u r seeking for public's attention by @akshaykumar name. Shameless https://t.co/WFnJ2ZTlGS
— Uzal Mishra (@MishraUzal) October 26, 2017
“It’s normalised to such an extent that even I didn’t make a huge deal of it. I’m a huge part of the problem. Do not make this about Akshay Kumar and trivialise it. It’s about all of us,” Mallika wrote in The Quint.
“Go ahead and protect your fragile, sexist and convenient morality nonetheless, but don’t you dare, tell us that we don’t have the right to address issues because we play sexually unabashed characters,” Mallika added.
— Mallika Dua (@MallikaDua) October 26, 2017
— Mallika Dua (@MallikaDua) October 26, 2017
Other comedians too have come out in support of Mallika.
"She's played a sexually explicit character so she has no right to voice her opinion about harassment" - please, STFU.
— Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) October 26, 2017
Disagreeing with her is one thing. But to say she is no one to ask for clarifications owing to her work is stupid.
— Sumukhi Suresh (@sumukhisuresh) October 26, 2017
Just don't laugh. Never laugh when something is sexist and unfunny.
— radhika vaz (@radvaz) October 25, 2017