Why has Bollywood’s sexism failed to be articulated beyond unattributed gossip and euphemisms such as the casting couch? BBC World’s documentary Bollywood’s Dark Secret, which was premiered on the channel on Saturday, answers that question – somewhat.
Featuring interviews with a few Indian actresses, including Radhika Apte and Kalki Koechlin, the 20-minute documentary attempts to understand why the country’s biggest film industry has been reluctant to speak up about instances of sexual harassment. While the documentary fails to adequately explore the problem in depth – undoubtedly because few were willing to go on record on the subject – it does make it clear that the reason for Bollywood’s reticence is not that the sexism doesn’t exist, but that the power structures are so deep-seated that they have so far proved impossible to dismantle.
