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Actor Kirti Kulhari considers herself fortunate that she was invited to visit the new Parliament building in Delhi recently. Expressing gratitude, she tells us, “Not a lot of people get this opportunity, and I was really grateful that I was among the select women who were chosen. I feel very thankful to actually even attend a Rajya Sabha session there. It was very fascinating for me.’
The recently passed Women’s Reservation Bill, which reserves one-third of the total number of seats in Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies for women, is a historic milestone in India’s political landscape and a significant step towards achieving gender equality in politics.
“It is a great and extraordinary thing that the women’s reservation bill has been passed, something that’s been in the pipeline for almost 27 years now. I am absolutely thrilled about this decision. Gender equality has really woken up in people in the past few years. For me, feminism is about fighting for equality and something like this happening, is in that direction,” the 38-year-old remarks.
Kulhari emphasises on the importance of gender balance in governance, stating that if people of the nation can create balance, then it can bring a change in the whole society. She elaborates, “You have people who represent you at the top. Now, women will also represent our issues and thought process, and they will fight for our equality from that level, which was very much needed. It is going to benefit us in a lot of ways in the coming years. It will be much easier for the coming generations, they won’t have to fight that much for things that we had to fight for.”
Furthermore, the actor stresses on the role of public figures in advocating gender equality. “I am representing women with different issues as an actor, so I am playing my role as a public figure for gender equality. I have also turned to a producer now, and that’s what I want to do with producing as well. My biggest strength to represent women is my craft. Cinema is a powerful medium to send a message and bring a change,” adds the actor, recently turned producer with a film titled Nayeka.
Having said that, she feels that as a public figure, it is her personal choice about when to speak up on societal and larger issues. “We are becoming a society where it is either this or that, there is no space for neutrality, and when you are a public figure, there is an unsaid pressure of ‘Why are you quiet? Or why aren’t you talking about it?’ People have to realize that we are also human beings and we have the right to remain silent, and speak when we want to because our views or opinions have larger repercussions than a normal person speaking up. So, I have really kept that choice with me, I speak up when and if I want to,” says Kulhari, who will next be seen in comedy film Khichdi 2.
Discussing the societal conditioning that affects perceptions of gender roles, she points at the conditioning that most people in this country are subjected tom, which is knowingly or unknowingly, very strong and unconscious. “And to turn it into consciousness, so that there is realisation and change, should be our aim. I believe that you have to find the loopholes in your own upbringing, and once you start becoming aware of them, that’s when you can do something about it,” she concludes.
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