Bollywood filmmaker Hansal Mehta defends Shilpa Shetty amidst husband Raj Kundra’s porn scandal

Bollywood filmmaker Hansal Mehta has come to the defense of actress Shilpa Shetty Kundra amidst the Raj Kundra pornography scandal that shaken up the entertainment industry.

The Bollywood star’s husband stands accused of filming and distributing pornography through mobile apps such as Hotshots. Kundra and his wife have reportedly stated the content is not in fact pornography but should be tagged as erotica. In the midst of this, Shetty Kundra also moved the Bombay High Court while naming 29 media outlets in a defamation suit for Rs200 million.

Amidst the ongoing media circus, Mehta spoke out on Twitter against the media intrusion in the star’s personal life and requested everyone to maintain a dignified approach in their reporting.

“If you cannot stand up for her at least leave Shilpa Shetty alone and let the law decide? Allow her some dignity and privacy. It is unfortunate that people in public life ultimately are left to fend for themselves and are proclaimed guilty even before justice is meted out,” Mehta posted on social media in a series of tweets.

“This silence is a pattern. In good times everybody parties together. In bad times there is deafening silence. There is isolation. No matter what the ultimate truth the damage is already done,” Mehta further added, seemingly commenting on the lack of support coming from Bollywood for the actress and her family.

The filmmaker also picked on the media for its intrusion. “This vilification is a pattern. If the allegations are against a film person there is a rush to invade privacy, to pass sweeping judgement, to character-assassinate, to fill ‘news’ with trashy gossip - all at the cost of individuals and their dignity. This is the cost of silence,” he continued.

Mehta is an award-winning filmmaker with films such as ‘Shahid’, ‘Aligarh’ and ‘Citylights’ to his credit, along with the hit web series ‘Scam 1992’.

Mehta is one of the few people from the entertainment industry who have gone on record about the Kundra arrest, with the other being the star of the filmmaker’s movie ‘Simran’, namely Kangana Ranaut who reacted to Kundra’s arrest by reaffirming her commitment to expose the “underbelly of Bullywood” through her upcoming production. Ranaut took to her Instagram stories earlier where she shared a news report regarding Kundra’s arrest while writing: “All that glitters is not gold, I am going to expose underbelly of Bullywood in my upcoming production called Tiku Weds Sheru... we need strong value system and conscience in the creative industry and, of course, a whip....”

In a small victory for Shilpa Shetty Kundra, the Bollywood actress was able to get a Bombay High Court ruling partly in her favour, with several media outlets asked to take down content in light of her defamation suit.

Kundra is to remain in judicial custody until August 10, while police continue to investigate the case. Elsewhere, in regards to Shetty Kundra’s defamation case, the Bombay High Court has ordered certain media to remove content that breaches the star’s privacy but has refused to gag the press. “If a person is a public figure, it should not be construed that the person has been deemed to have sacrificed the right to privacy. None of this should involve Shilpa Shetty’s parenting or her children,” the court stated.