SHOCKING: Renuka Shahane opens up on being molested as a kid; says her mom ‘lived with that guilt’

Renuka Shahane has ventured into direction with her latest release Tribhanga. The film chronicles the story of a dysfunctional family of three women and their unconventional life choices. In the trailer of Tribhanga, we get to see how the film explores the idea that nobody is perfect, yes not even mothers.

The film also attempts to highlight how sexual harassment leaves someone scarred for life. In an exclusive chat with Bollywood Bubble, Renuka revealed about being molested by someone in the family, and how it took her years to come out with it.

Sharing her experience, Renuka said that despite being close to her mother she couldn’t bring herself to tell her about being sexually molested. The actress-filmmaker also stated that back in the 80s there was no awareness at all about such issues. The Tribhanga director even revealed that her mother lived with that guilt.

Opening up about her experience, Renuka said, “It’s really horrible because I am so close to my mom and I couldn’t even bring myself to tell her for the longest time. I was a kid at that time. And she feels such a lot of guilt because she felt that ‘Oh my god what I could have done better so that my daughter would have come and told me’.”

“There was no conversation in the 80s which is when this film is set in. At that time there was no awareness at all you know. As kids, we are so trusting that we do not realise that things like this happen and then we think that it is because of us that something like this has happened. Because we can sense its completely wrong and somehow we carry that guilt and the burden and it takes a long time for us to come out of that,” she added further.

The actress has shared her experience with her loved ones and even with her sons. She wants them to feel safe enough to share anything with her. “Later I spoked about it to my loved ones, even my husband knows about it. I have spoken to my children about it because I feel they also need to be aware of and feel the need to open up to me and know, if god forbids anything like this does happen to them, they have me as their best friend.  There are somethings that still trigger. I am telling you out of my personal experience you can never actually totally heal it,” she said.

However, Renuka also clarified that the part where Anu Apte (played by Kajol) faces molestation in Tribhanga is fiction. She signed off by saying, “What you see in the film is fiction. This is not something that has happened to me. Otherwise, people will feel its autobiographical element, which is not true. I got to speak to a lot of people around me so I have healed in many many ways over the years but there are so many people who have still not come out about the sexual harassment, molestation, abuse they have gone through.” 

You can check out Renuka opening up about her personal experience in the following video:

Starring  Kajol, Tanvi Azmi and Mithila Palkar in the lead roles, Tribhanga released on Netflix on January 15.

Also Read: Tribhanga Movie Review: Renuka Shahane, Kajol bring forth a tear-jerking and near-perfect tale of flawed-yet-real women