The recent transmogrification of the song “Chuttamalle” (from the movie Devara) that turns it into something utterly vile, leaving the heroine Ms Kapoor’s dignity and identity profoundly violated, while shocking, isn’t surprising.

Look around. See what women from every part of society are going through in our country. See what men in general think they have the right to do with them. To them. The space available for me here wouldn’t cover even a fraction of the examples I could come up with off the top of my head.

Junior NTR, Devara’s lead actor, issued a prompt response on X, calling the video “Disgusting. Sick. Shameless,” speaking of the irony of someone being exploited in this manner in a culture that reveres women as goddesses, warned both creators and distributors of legal action, and urged fans not to watch or share the video. Industry veteran Chiranjeevi weighed in, expressing profound anger and dismay over the content, calling it “cruel, shameful, and completely unacceptable”.

That the big names of Tollywood came out — fiercely, spontaneously and in numbers — in support of Ms Kapoor is worthy of appreciation. She could do with all the help she can get, considering how she must be feeling; cold is the heart that cannot feel for her.

I have a question, though. Not one that’s going to make me popular (not that I have ever been in those stakes).

Only a few months ago, there was an intense backlash over the blatant objectification of the heroine of a film. Critics, audiences, and women’s rights groups came down hard on the makers for reducing her to a prop, meant only for exploitation, in ways not worth repeating in this piece so as not to revictimise her.

That wasn’t all. Overwhelmingly, opinion was that there were scenes in the film that glorified non-consensual behaviour and blurred the lines of consent, all in the name of ‘playful romance’. So strong was the outcry that the director of the film issued a public apology, the production team assured moviegoers that the required edits would be made; the filmmakers swore they would be cautious with the representation of female characters in future projects.

The movie: Peddi. The heroine: alas, Janhvi Kapoor.

Ms Kapoor, not surprisingly, stayed away from the movie’s success meet.

My question: did the film industry — that arrived in droves to condemn the AI video — come out, openly, courageously, and unequivocally, in support of Ms Kapoor when this happened as well?

I don’t think so.

I’m sure I’ll be told in irate (even abusive, perhaps) letters that the need never arose when prompt corrective measures were taken by the makers themselves. Let me save them the trouble by telling them why I disagree.

No one from the film industry who mattered came out openly in support of Ms Kapoor, or for that matter, took the filmmakers to task, even if some of them may have wanted to, because they couldn’t.

Because, for decades, almost every one of them has been an active, willing and (dare I say) gleeful part of an ecosystem that’s normalised and profited from the hyper-sexualisation of women, the rampant objectification of heroines, passing off their abuse – verbal, emotional and physical — as comedy and romance.

The dire warnings and potted moral lessons from the film industry seem to be, sadly, only, for outsiders.

Some may argue that there is no comparison between how women are depicted in our films, however exploitative that may be, and this AI video. Again, I would have to disagree.

What we should be looking at is not the extent; what matters is the intent.

What I found most saddening, while it may have been meant in the right spirit, was how one tweet said: ‘Tomorrow, it could be your mother, sister, wife or daughter’.

For years I’ve been baffled by this all-purpose memo to men. That we need to be protective of women because it could well be someone from our own family at the receiving end next.

Why any woman should be respected by men merely because she is related in some ‘sacred’ manner to some other man beats me. Why can’t a woman be respected for herself? Why does she need prefixes, roles, designations, symbols or property documents to be treated right? Why do we have only two options? Putting them on pedestals as mother, sisters and goddesses, and worshipping them. Or doing the vilest of things to them.

I sign off with something most heartening from a film I just saw, Bethlehem Kudumba Unit. It deals with what could have been a problematic subject: a romance between a young woman and an older man. What I liked most about the film was the manner in which it depicted love. That a man can be decent, restrained, unselfish, patient, honourable and vulnerable —and put the well-being of a woman above all else, especially when she is completely in his power — is what will stay with me.

We need more men like this in our films. And in the film world. The average man will have no choice then but to follow suit.