Maniesh Paul's feminist side: Speaks on women safety, empowerment

Actor-host Maniesh Paul knows how to strike the right chord with his fans. Known for his wit and comic timing, Maniesh recently visited his college in Delhi (College of Vocational Studies) to talk about women safety and empowerment. His words left a huge impact on the crowd and his speech went viral on social media. The craze continued on his recent trip to Nepal, where his fans promoted his initiative and sported T-shirts with the slogan ‘Respect for All’.

“It was a very touching moment to see people supporting what I’ve always believed in. The best part was the fact that people (in Nepal) were happy to see me taking this issue so seriously,” says Maniesh, who has been invited by many colleges in Delhi to speak about women safety.

Doing his bit, Maniesh says that he ensures women around him are taken good care of and nobody is misbehaving. “If I am shooting for a show, I take care of things like how are women crew members going back and if they’re being dropped back safely after the wrap up. Also, there’s special instruction to the unit also to take care of women and give them the best treatment,” shares Maniesh.

Especially with films like Pink, people understand that it’s important that boys need to change.

Ask him if Bollywood films are also putting strong emphasis on women safety and trying to send a message to the society, the actor adds, “Definitely they’re making a lot of difference especially with films like Pink (2016), people understand that it’s important that boys need to change and not tell girls what to do.”

Even while addressing the crowd, Maniesh had said he has been telling men to behave, while girls should be allowed to live freely. “I don’t have any message for the girls that don’t step out late at night or don’t wear short dresses or live in a particular way, they should do whatever they want,” says the actor, adding, “I want to tell boys that don’t tease girls, rather make yourself so attractive that they want to talk to you. It’s always better to be friends and not necessary that you need to flirt with someone to start a conversation. You can be nice and still talk to someone.”