Why Does Bollywood Keep Working With Abusive Men: Saloni Chopra Calls Out Casting Of Alleged Abuser Zain Khan Durrani In Songs Of Paradise

The Song Of Paradise, starring Soni Razdan and Saba Azad, released on Amazon Prime Video last week. The actors are being praised for their performance. However, Saloni Chopra, actor and filmmaker, is unhappy with the movie. She has criticised the makers for casting her alleged abuser, actor Zain Khan Durrani. She took to her social media handle and penned a long note, questioning Bollywood why it keeps working with 'abusive men'.

Songs of Paradise is streaming. Paradise for whom?: Saloni Chopra

Taking to Instagram, she has shared a carousel post in which she recalled the events of how she was abused by Zain. She raised her voice during the #MeToo moment and revealed that he 'dragged' her out of the house. 'Choked' her in a car because she caught Zain cheating. Saloni further claimed that the actor 'gaslighted' and 'abused' other women, too. When she went public, he sent her a 'copy-pasted' apology.

"And yet today, he's acting in an Amazon Prime film. Promoted. Praised. Polished into a man worth celebrating. So next time you wonder why women don't speak? This is why?" she added.

She further highlighted how the accused continue to get work, while the accusers get sidelined. "But the many women who speak up are penalised. Women like myself, filmmakers trying to amplify women's voices through film -struggle to get our work seen. While men who beat women get prime-time slots," she wrote.

In the caption, she penned a long note saying that there is no point in making a feminist film if makers are going to keep working with such men.

"There’s really no point in making feminist films like Songs of Paradise if we’re going to keep working with men that are pushing the movement back by 50+ years. I wrote an article about Zain Durrani a few years ago and at the time he was a nobody. I remember asking a journalist why she kept asking about Sajid and not about Zain, and she said ‘Babe, who the hell is that? Nobody cares about him…’ And maybe that’s what we collectively do as a Society? We hyper-fixate and we also forget. We run behind prime time stories without realising that we are capable of creating them. We ignore toxic men when it doesn’t concern us but then we are angry and appalled when it reaches the door steps of our homes. When it’s our sisters and wives. Then, we want justice. Even though we’re the ones actively creating opportunities for abusive men and environments where justice is impossible…" read her caption.

Who is Zain Khan Durrani?

He is an actor and poet who made his debut in the 2018 film Kuchh Bheege Alfaaz. He went on to work in Shikara and Bell Bottom. However, he rose to fame after featuring in the series Mukhbir - The Story of a Spy.

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