Anu Malik was one of the most popular celebrity names that had come out during the #MeToo wave last year. While many were shocked, many others weren’t surprised at all. But not even a year later, he resumed work as per usual and popular singing reality show Indian Idol had reinstated him as a judge alongside Vishal Dadlani and Neha Kakkar. Earlier this month, singer Sona Mohapatra wrote an open letter to the media and Sony TV as to how insensitive this is. In it, she mentioned how despite many women opening up about their stories of the music director being sexually inappropriate with them, Anu Malik is not just walking free but judging a popular TV show such as Indian Idol.
Now, following the outrage over reinstating Anu Malik as the judge, reports suggest that Sony is finally reconsidering removing him from the show. A report in Free Press Journal stated that a source close to the show revealed that the music director might be shown doors in the next few weeks and that the channel had thought that the uproar against him had died down a bit. Apparently, they never anticipated such backlash.
It’s honestly disheartening to see that an entertainment company as big as Sony would let things like this slide in the hope that people would forget. Like Sona had so truthfully put down in her open letter to the channel, will it really take a Nirbhaya level tragedy, for us to wake up?