After being arrested in a prostitution case, former child actress and National Award Winner, Shweta Basu Prasad has been receiving strong and vocal support from Bollywood.
Filmmaker Hansal Mehta who was very impressed with her performance has expressed a desire to work with her. He tweeted: “I intend to offer Shweta Prasad a role in my next film. She was so good in Makdee.”
He lashed out at those who posted images of the 23 year-old with another tweet that read: Stop posting pictures of Shweta. Put out the pictures of her wealthy clients and the pimp. Expose the scumbags not the soft target.
Shweta will be kept in a rescue home for three months.
Meanwhile, the film industry is angry with the way the media has reported the incident. Filmmakers like Vishal Bharadwaj, Karan Johar, Imtiaz Ali have signed an open letter posted on the blog moifightclub. In the letter they have expressed their anguish over the media’s insensitiveness towards reporting on the actress.
The letter reads:
We have been greatly disturbed by the harsh reporting on a former child actors alleged involvement in a prostitution racket.
All of us know how difficult it is for young child actors trying to find a foothold in this industry as adults. We urge the media to refrain from treating her life as gossip for their viewers/readers.
We also request the film fraternity to empathise rather than judge or label her. Somewhere, we are all accountable for the disillusionment of one so young.
All of us stand in complete solidarity with this fine National-award winning actor of immeasurable talent.
Signed
Vishal Bharadwaj
Karan Johar
Imtiaz Ali
Abhishek Kapoor
Rensil DSilva
Amole Gupte
Honey Trehan
Nandini Shrikent
Preety Ali
Aarti Bajaj
Namrata Rao
Deepa Bhatia
Amrita Puri
Abhishek Chaubey
Makarand Deshpande
Shreyas Talpade
Abbas Tyrewala
Elahe Hiptoola
Akiv Ali
Dipa De Motwane
Hitesh Sonik