Sona Mohapatra and Sandhya Mridul defend Tanushree Dutta following Nana Patekar’s demise, question demands to silence survivors

Singer Sona Mohapatra and actress Sandhya Mridul have publicly voiced their support for Tanushree Dutta after her remarks on veteran actor Nana Patekar’s death sparked backlash. Patekar passed away at the age of 75 in Goa due to a cardiac arrest, prompting a wave of tributes across the film industry and social media. However, public reaction quickly turned hostile toward Tanushree Dutta after she expressed her feelings on his passing, leading Mohapatra and Mridul to call out the hypocrisy of forcing survivors to remain silent or perform grief.

Sona Mohapatra Calls Out Demands to Silence Survivors

Taking to X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, singer Sona Mohapatra confronted critics who insisted Tanushree should suppress her past trauma out of respect for the deceased or his philanthropic record.“Death deserves dignity. So do the living. Mourning an actor is 1 thing. Demanding that a woman who spoke up about her trauma just shut up is another #India. Since when did death erase uncomfortable truths? Old age a virtue? Death = Sainthood? #TanushreeDutta #MeToo #NanaPatekar.”

In a video shared on the social media platform, Mohapatra acknowledged that while she often finds herself in the minority for speaking out, the public's harassment of Dutta was unacceptable, “Nana Patekar passed away yesterday, a celebrated actor, people are mourning him, understandably so. I have no issues with that. What’s disturbing me is the way people are attacking Tanushree Dutta. Seriously, what do you expect from her?”

Addressing the severe personal costs Dutta bore after coming forward, Mohapatra emphasized, “This woman spoke up about her sexual harassment on sets with this gentleman. Fought an exhausting battle. Faced a public humiliation and professional consequences. And now, she’s supposed to forget her experience and perform what for you? Grief? That’ll comfort you?”

Mohapatra also directly addressed women participating in the social media attacks against Dutta, asking, “Really? Is humiliating another woman your idea of engagement?”

She stressed that honouring an artist's career should not require erasing a survivor's lived reality, “Dying shouldn’t erase uncomfortable chapters of someone’s life. You can celebrate an artist’s work, mourn his passing, and offer his family compassion. But you cannot demand that a woman rewrite her own history to make your mourning comfortable.”

Contrasting how society views outspoken men versus outspoken women, Mohapatra noted that while Patekar was often praised for being muffat (blunt), women are labeled as "downright rude" for doing the same.

“Tanushree Dutta is entitled to her account of what happened. And if your compassion requires humiliating a woman who spoke up, it’s definitely not compassion. It’s your hypocrisy. Death deserves dignity, so do the living,” said the singer.

Sandhya Mridul Reinforces That Death Does Not Erase Abuse

Actress Sandhya Mridul echoed Mohapatra's sentiment in a reflective post on Instagram. Without naming Patekar or Dutta directly, she highlighted the long-term impact on survivors when an accused figure passes away.

“Does a person stop being an abuser when they die? Does the harm they caused disappear too? For survivors, it doesn’t. A survivor lives with it for as long as they live. I will always stand with the survivor.”

Expanding on the point in her Instagram Stories, Mridul noted that public tributes should not invalidate past harm, “A person's death does not automatically erase the harm they may have caused. Abuse does not become untrue because the abuser is gone, and the experiences of survivors do not become less real in the face of public tributes.”“It is possible to mourn someone, and it is also important to remember that there may be people carrying pain connected to them. When only praise is allowed and survivors are forgotten, it can feel like their truth disappears all over again.”

Tanushree Dutta and the #MeToo Movement

Tanushree Dutta’s fallout with Nana Patekar dates back to 2008 on the sets of the film Horn 'OK' Pleassss. Dutta alleged that Patekar behaved inappropriately and intimidated her during a song shoot, a claim he denied. In 2018, Dutta spoke out again about the incident, catalysing the #MeToo movement in the Indian film industry. Calling out Patekar publicly led to severe professional setbacks, relentless public scrutiny, and a protracted legal battle for Dutta.

Following news of Patekar's demise, Dutta faced significant backlash for referring to him as "evil dead" and posting a video questioning why she was expected to forgive someone who never acknowledged his actions or offered an apology.