Actor Mukesh Khanna is being slammed by netizens for saying that the MeToo movement began after women started stepping out for work.

The social movement against sexual abuse and sexual harassment gained prominence in India in 2018 when actress Tanushree Dutta accused Nana Patekar of sexual harassment. Since then, several women in the Hindi film industry have named and shamed alleged perpetrators.

Talking about the movement in a video, which has gone viral on Twitter, Mukesh says: "Aurat ka kaam hai ghar sambhalna (The job of a woman is to take care of the house). Problem kahaan se shuru hue hai #MeToo ki jab auraton ne bhi kaam karna shuru kar diya (The problem of #MeToo began when women started working). Aaj aurat mard ke saath kandhey se kandha milane ke baat karti hai (Today, women talk about walking shoulder-to-shoulder with men)."

The comment made by the actor, best known for playing the desi superhero Shaktimaan on the small screen, has left many netizens furious.

"And that stupid shaktimaan added value to the society eh? Wonder what kind of family he grew up in. Someone ask him why kids as young as 5-6 are raped then? Why even give a platform to these weak humans who are scared of women?" one wrote on Twitter.

"This people's mindset cannot be changed. He has acted in such mythological drama but he didn't learn anything. He doesn't have the right to pray any goddess. People with this type of mindset insult women but pray goddess, Is this making any sense?" questioned another.

Another wrote: "Never ever heard of such a disgusting misogynistic and patriarchal comment. Lost all respects for you."

"Such misogynist...Problem is your mentality. #MeToo #metooindia problem arises bc people like you exist in our society. Certainly no respect," another wrote.