Ananya Panday: We have set unrealistic beauty standards

Mumbai:  Actress Ananya Panday has talked about how she faced body shaming both for being too skinny and later for her natural curves, showing that women are constantly judged. She went on to address the film industry’s role in promoting unrealistic beauty standards and stresses the need for authenticity.

The actress was in a conversation with YouTuber and social media influencer Lilly Singh. The video was shared on Instagram, where Ananya was heard saying: “ You can never win. I was 18, 19 when I started out,and I was really skinny, you know, and everyone used to kind of make fun about that.”

“And they were like, oh, you have chicken legs, and you look like a matchstick, and you don’t have t**s, and you don’t have an a**. So that was what it was first.”

Ananya said that she is growing up and her body’s “filling out”, she still got judged.

“They were like, oh, there’s no way she’s got her b*** done, or she’s got this done. So you can never win. People will constantly have something to say and criticize that. And that’s something that I’ve seen, especially with women. I don’t feel like they do that to men at all.”

She stresses how films have set an unrealistic beauty standard.

“I feel like it’s our fault also, because we have set unrealistic beauty standards in the films that we’ve… You know, I, as an actress, feel like sometimes I do put that messaging out there in the films that I’ve done or the songs that I’ve done that,oh, you’re all beautiful, you wake up in the morning,and your hair’s done, and it’s not true.”

“And you kind of have to balance that out somewhere. You have to talk about it, and you have to tell people that that’s not the reality. We also don’t look like that. And I try to balance that out, maybe, by not being like that when I’m, you know, off-camera.”

Lilly captioned the post: “Oops, @ananyapanday spitting pure facts! From why women can never win to what really happens behind the scenes…and in the rain – we talk about it all.

Love how Ananya keeps it 100% real about beauty expectations, Bollywood’s role in setting those unrealistic standards and why we need authentic female voices telling our stories on screen.

“Watch our full #ShameLess conversation to see this icon break down why women supporting women is the future we ALL need. For more convos that challenge norms and change culture, follow @unicornisland!”

–IANS