Shaktimaan and Mahabharat actor Mukesh Khanna has said that the #MeToo movement in India began because women started working. In a clip from a recent video interview, Mukesh opines that the role of a woman is to take care of the household. “The problem of #MeToo began when women started working. Today, women talk about walking shoulder-to-shoulder with men,” Mukesh is heard telling The Filmy Charcha.

“People talk of women’s lib (liberation), but let me tell you this is where the problem begins. The first person who suffers is the child, because he doesn’t have a mother to take care of him. He sits and watches TV with his nanny all day. It all began when women started saying that they want to do what men do. No, a man is a man and a woman is a woman,” Mukesh said, adding that in a “modern world,” his opinions may not be understood. 

The actor’s statements were roundly criticised on social media. Many expressed disappointment with the thoughts of their childhood superhero. His wikipedia page, meanwhile, was edited to describe him as an actor turned “Right-Wing Rabble Rouser.”