Violence against women should be stopped: Amitabh Bachchan
News
oi-Tarneet
By Puri
In
the
backdrop
of
the
growing
outrage
against
the
gang-rape
of
a
23
year-old
student
in
New
Delhi,
megastar
Amitabh
Bachchan
said
violence
against
women
should
be
strongly
spoken
against
and
put
down
with.
In
his
address
at
the
concluding
day
of
the
10th
Chennai
International
Film
Festival
here,
Bachchan
also
stressed
for
the
importance
of
treating
the
fairer
sex
with
equality
and
dignity.
"...
fifty
per
cent
of
the
population
is
women.
They
should
be
treated
with
equality
and
dignity...violence
against
women
should
be
strongly
spoken
against
and
put
down",
he
said.
A
23
year-old
medical
student
was
gang-raped
and
has
been
since
fighting
for
life
at
a
Delhi
hospital,
sparking
widespread
outrage
with
the
issue
even
resonating
in
Parliament.
Bachchan,
who
also
gave
away
various
awards
in
connection
with
the
eight-day
festival,
showered
praise
on
South
Indian
film
fraternity
and
hailed
its
discipline
and
organised
way
of
working.
He
said
many
in
Hindi
cinema
were
popular
all
over
the
world,
but
South
Indian
cinema
"is
an
integral
part
of" it.
Tracing
the
100
years
of
Indian
cinema,
he
said
it
was
once
not
a
vocation
appreciated
by
many
and
that
his
parents
had
"vetted"
the
movies
he
wanted
to
watch
in
his
childhood
days.
He
hailed
cinema
as
a
medium
bringing
together
various
walks
of
life
and
said
audience
never
asked
about
the
caste,
creed
or
religion
of
those
on-screen.
Promising
his
mite
for
the
CIFF,
Bachchan
said
he
was
even
prepared
to
work
as
a
volunteer
or
escort,
drawing
peels
of
laughter.
He
announced
Rs
11
lakh
as
his
contributions.
Earlier,
he
started
off
with
greeting
the
crowd
in
Tamil
and
spoke
a
few
lines
which
was
received
by
a
huge
applause.
He
also
modelled
for
an
instant
portrait
and
sung
verses
from
his
evergreen
melody
"Kabhi
kabhie
mere
dil
mein."