Sonali Bendre Reflects On Body-Shaming Experience During Early Career, Says Producers Wanted Her To 'Fatten Up'

Sonali Bendre, who's celebrating the release of 'The Broken News 2,' has recalled her experience of being body-shamed during her initial days in the industry.

Outlook Entertainment Desk

Updated on: 3 May 2024 8:26 am

Sonali Bendre Photo: Instagram

Body shaming is a harsh reality that numerous people encounter regularly, especially women within the entertainment industry, where comments can be notably bold and you have to appear your best in front of the cameras. While actresses have come out and spoken about their experiences, Sonali Bendre is, once again, sharing her encounters with body shaming by various producers during her initial days in the film industry.

The actress revealed that she faced pressure from producers to gain weight, as the beauty standards of the 90s favoured a different body type as compared to today.

In a conversation with Hauterrfly, the actress said, “When I came in the industry, heroines didn’t used to be this skinny. Every producer was trying to fatten me up all the time. They would just tell me to ‘eat eat eat bahut patli hai (she is too thin).’ They wanted curves. At that time, they wanted women who were curvaceous and voluptuous and who had curls in their hair. And I was straight black hair and I was skinny.”

Even though there were expectations from the film industry, the ‘Sarfarosh’ actress emphasized the significance of feeling confident in your own skin, irrespective of societal standards of attractiveness, stating, “People might have a set of norm of what is good looking and what isn’t, but you have to feel confident and feel beautiful in your body.”

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A post shared by Sonali Bendre (@iamsonalibendre)

However, this wouldn’t be the first time she’d be talking about the issue of body shaming. In 2022, she shed light on the deeply rooted nature of body shaming in society during an interview with Bollywood Bubble. “I do agree body shaming should not have any part in our society and especially little girls and the kind of ideas they are growing with and the crazy dieting people are doing. People are forgetting that it is not holistic,” she said.

Meanwhile, work wise, Sonali Bendre made a comeback with the newsroom drama series ‘The Broken News’ in 2022. The sequel to the show was released on May 3, 2024, and can be streamed on ZEE5.