Shankar asks women not to work in ads portraying them as commodities

Kolkata: Danseuse-actor Mamata Shankar on Friday said women should not work in advertisements where they are portrayed as commodities.

Crime against women was on the rise for various reasons and that should be checked to ensure their safety at home and outside, Shankar told PTI on the sidelines of a programme that awarded women achievers.

“At times women are portrayed as commodities in ads and the question arises why they should turn up in such works,” said the 63-year-old actress who debuted in Mrinal Sen’s ‘Mrigayaa’ in 1976.

Why should women should be part of certain ads which project them as inferior ones in some way or the other, the veteran danseuse asked.

Shankar, a favourite of both Sen and Satyajit Ray, received the ‘Sonar Sansar’ award for acting along with 12 other women achievers from different fields. “I am happy, but this award is a tribute to all women like me,” said Shankar who acted in three Ray films.

Rabindra Sangeet exponent Swagatalakshmi Dasgupta, film director Nandita Roy, stage actor Sohag Sen, danseuse Priti Patel, fashion designer Agnimitra Paul, writer Bani Basu, jewellery entrepreneur Vardha Goenka, entrepreneur Nayantara Pal Chowdhury and athlete Soma Biswas were among the other recipients of the award.