Sources: India Today, NDTV, Zoom TV.
Since the past one week, there has been an uproar from women activists all over the country on the 'Heroine' controversy on Aishwarya being discriminated on a 'disease' called pregnancy. Now the whole industry is ganging up in support of Aishwarya.
Sushmita Sen had this to say - "Aishwarya has always been known to be a beautiful woman. She has brought great laurels to our country. Both of us are international winners. She is a beautiful woman who is going to be a mother, and that will increase her beauty manifold. She will be a very beautiful mother. I am very happy for her, Abhishek and the entire family. God bless the baby."
When questioned about whether there should be a pregnancy clause in films - "I would show the producer the door if he gets a clause like that. I don't believe what I do outside my job is anybody's business."
The fiery Sush has exposed the double standards of the industry. "My take on the Ash- pregnancy clause issue is simple: If producers want to include a no pregnancy clause then they should do it across the board for even male actors. If terms have to be dictated to female actors then even male actors should be told not to have a baby while their film is being shot. Come on, it’s the 21 st century, boss, equal rules should apply for everyone."
Aamir Khan - "I don't think Aishwarya is unprofessional. I think she would not like that one person's absence jeopardizes everybody else's chance on the set."
Smriti Irani, the topmost Television star, shared her experience about how she got pregnant during the filming of her show and how the producers accomodated it and made it easier for her to shoot an action sequence in the 8th month of her pregnancy instead of making an issue out of it, saying a similar appoach could have been met with in this case too.
Raj Kumar Santoshi, who was supposed to begin filming his next film 'Ladies and Gentlemen' with Aishwarya in August happily agreed to postpone the film for the sake of Aishwarya's well-being - "It is a film that I had written keeping her in mind. For now, the movie has been postponed to next year. She is a talented and beautiful artiste and this period should be treated as her maternity leave."
Katrina Kaif - "I think we are all her family. The film industry is like her family. And we don't have to get so harsh on things. We should all work together as friends."
Shahana Goswami, Aishwarya's co-star in 'Heroine' also poured in support for Aishwarya quoting the example of Penelope Cruz, who shot for the entire schedule of the Pirates of Caribbean being pregnant.
The Cine Employers Association says it will support Aishwarya if she files a complaint against UTV & Madhur Bhandarkar.