Mandana Karimi explains why she decided to quit Bollywood last year: Speaking out on #MeToo has done more harm than good | Hindi Movie News – Times of India

Iranian actor Mandana Karimi, who is known for her supporting role in Kyaa Kool Hain Hum 3 and her participation in Salman Khan’s hosted reality show Bigg Boss 9, had announced last year that she has decided to quit Bollywood after #MeToo accused Sajid Khan entered as a contestant on Bigg Boss 16. In a new interview, she has explained the reasons behind parting ways from the industry.
Mandana said that she reached her breaking point a few years ago after she opened up about her sexual harassment encounter against a Bollywood director. She had taken a stand for another woman who had also gone through a similar experience with the same filmmaker. She feels that the #MeToo movement has not brought any positive change in India and it has caused more harm than good for her when she had spoken about it.
Her frustration grew when she was labelled as ‘difficult to work with’ because she didn’t agree to whatever she was told to do. It made her even more annoyed when people would often criticise her for not understanding Indian culture.

She then went on to claim that the film industry in India runs on who you know, who your father is, who your family is. She said that if she would have a child right now, she would be worried if her daughter would express her wish to be a part of Bollywood.
However, Mandana said that not everyone is the same and later on, one might good opportunities depending on their talent. Though she has worked with some amazing people in the industry, she feels unfortunate to not have that many of those people in her career.
“I had people who were very disrespectful, they treat you like, ‘Oh, she’s a pretty girl, she doesn’t have support, we can do whatever we want’,” she concluded.