Till perhaps recently, Twinkle Khanna was celebrated as a feminist writer and a genuinely funny person.
Today, that image – perhaps carefully built and protected – has taken a very hard beating. She has been described as an embarassed wife and faux feminist. Ever since Akshay Kumar’s crass joke on The Great Indian Laughter Challenge, ‘Mallika (Mallika Dua) ji aap bell bajao main aap ko bajata hun (You ring the bell, I will bang you),’ the Mrs. Funnybones Twitter account has slowly unravelled.
The actress tweeted what she termed lame jokes after defending her husband.
I couldn’t resist these two and after this I am done 🙂 #LameJokes pic.twitter.com/3mMckTtmDu
— Twinkle Khanna (@mrsfunnybones) October 29, 2017
— Twinkle Khanna (@mrsfunnybones) October 29, 2017
The jokes seem to play light on the whole ‘bell bajao’ incident and, it would seem, make us think Twinkle has a sense of humour and can take a joke.
However, that would apply if Akshay’s original comments were directed at her, not at Mallika. Twinkle’s making light of the comment seems to reiterate the comment.
A truly feminist woman ought to have publicly called out Akshay and should have assured Mallika and the other women that she’ll never stand for such comments. If she really had a sense of humour, she’d have said, at least, that she’d pull up Akshay, and made some comment about bajoing him on his head. But no.
Once again, it seems that feminism will only go as far as the front gate of the house. Close friends, family are never accountable. And once again, sexist, sexual comments are brushed under the carpet.
Mallika Dua on her part responded to Twinkle Khanna’s tweet with a big sarcastic laugh. And a No.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH No. https://t.co/x1GRbWCHkX
— Mallika Dua (@MallikaDua) October 30, 2017
please remind me to slap and unfollow you if you, once more, rt and praise a “feminist” column twinkle khanna manages to write.
— Sandhya Menon (@TheRestlessQuil) October 30, 2017
Its one thing to refrain from publicly condemning your partner of 15yrs but trivializing a sexist comment with such jokes is jst distasteful
— Shubhangini Arora (@Shubhangini_A) October 29, 2017
Even Mallika’s father, Vinod Dua stated on Facebook, “Ms.Twinkle Khanna responds to the laughter challenge controversy. It is a prosaic excuse from an embarrassed wife.”
Mallika, a former judge of the Star Plus show, and her father Vinod Dua – a journalist – raised concern regarding Akshay Kumar’s remark earlier this week by sharing a video over social media which was reportedly a leaked portion of an episode shoot held around a month ago, and it was never aired by the channel.
This was Mallika’s response after she got trolled on social media for calling out Akshay Kumar:
This is all I have to say. Enjoy fighting among yourselves and sensationalising it. I’m off to live and Work. Bye. https://t.co/mVxHhnftts
— Mallika Dua (@MallikaDua) October 26, 2017
