Aneri Vajani, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, Sonakshi Sinha, Aishwarya Rai: By Body-Shaming Them, Shameless Trollers Shamed Themselves

Yesterday, TV star Aneri Vajani, who essays the role of Saanjh in Beyhadh, was body-shamed for uploading a picture of herself in lingerie on social media.

Since then, we hear that Aneri has been terribly distressed. She has not been taking calls and has been in two minds whether to delete the picture or not. The actress was subsequently trolled mercilessly with some very nasty and distasteful comments, most of them saying it loud and clear that she is too skinny to expose skin. Later, Aneri did surface with a post responding to her trollers but if you read that carefully, she didn't say much. 

I would really like to know some answers to the questions I pose below.

1. Yes, Aneri is skinny. But so what? What right does anybody have to tell Aneri how she should portray herself on social media? Are these trollers her parents who perhaps may have a right (I repeat, may) to discuss with Aneri if they are uncomfortable with her social media behaviour?

2. Does Aneri live in a free country or not?

3. When we ask women to cover up, we deny them their choice in expressing their power. Therein lies the inequality. Would a man have been trolled if he had posed in his briefs or even crossed his legs nude to cover his cr**ch? Fardeen Khan was perhaps the lone Indian male celebrity who was trolled once when pictures of his weight-gain flooded the social media. But then FK is a soft target. isn't he?

4. Why do so many men fall in love with a woman in our country only because of her figure? I am not using the word 'viotal statistics' here because those statistics are not vital. Yes, the word 'vital statistics' should be banned.

Our female celebrities also fought back but not so aggressively.

After a tabloid published paparazzi photos of Tyra Banks on the beach criticizing her body, Banks made talk-show history with her thunderous response. "Kiss my fat ass," she retorted on television. It's been nearly a decade since that episode aired, but her eloquent words and defiant, tearful delivery are still just as poignant watching it back today.

Take the case of Priyanka Chopra where she was recently trolled for her dress which she donned when she went to meet our PM Narendra Modi in Berlin. Priyanka was also trolled in the past for her nose, which many feel has been surgically treated. Fighting back, Priyanka  told a section of the media: "There's such a false perception of what women should look like and what our body should look like, especially when we are in the business. You put on a couple of pounds and people are like body-shaming you. It happens. Christmas happens to all of us. I have Diwali, I have Holi, I have like a hundred holidays that happen to me. So my body fluctuates, and you know what? I'm fine with it,

Parineeti Chopra was targetted when she was slightly overweight in her early days in Bollywood. Referring to body-shaming, Parineeti said: "This (body shaming) will soon become a past. Everything comes in phases. If you yourself are not comfortable about your body, do something about it. If you are comfortable, let it be. Other people have no right to comment anyway.”

In our country, a woman has no right to gain weight even when she delivers a baby! Aishwarya Rai ignored the haters when she had her first child, but Abhishek Bachchan decided to speak up for his wife. “Yes, she’s a public figure, but people forget she’s also a woman and now a mother and there’s a line that’s not to be crossed. I don’t talk that way about any woman ever and it’s obviously not graceful for anyone to talk about her like that either."

Not too long ago, when trolled for her weight, Sonakshi Sinha fought back saying: It’s absolutely shameful. Today if anybody has been targeted for being a certain way, it’s me. But I don’t let it get to me. I know what is more important is that I project a healthy body image for girls who look up to me. Tomorrow if I become skinny, what’s the point? I won’t be able to work well. I’ll fall sick all the time. I know that’s not my body structure, not my body type. I’ve worked very hard to look the way I look today. I used to weigh 95 kilos. What more do you want from me?

Huma Qureshi was body-shamed and she slapped the trollers by putting out this:

And most recently, Deepika Padukone was slammed for a magazine shoot. Deepika too left no stone unturned in hitting back. Picture ka jawab picture se diya.

Coming back to Aneri, we called her last evening that she should slap the trollers. She picked up after many calls but refrained from lashing out at the trollers. She said that she only wanted to be left alone. "I really don't want to say anything about the trolling," she quipped. This clearly suggested that we had heard it right. Aneri is disturbed.

Think about this. We are simply killing the confidence of many women in our country who can make a large difference in making it a better place to live in.

Wonder if many parents in India went for a long break when their sons were growing up! Most body-shamers are men, koi shaque?


Image Source: wmj, allwidewallpapers, gluebomb, oic , instagram/deepikapadukone & twitter/priyankachopra