Sonali Bendre Opens Up About Being Body-Shamed by Producers in the 90s

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MAY 03,2024

In a recent interview, Sarfarosh actress Sonali Bendre talked about how she was body-shamed in the 90s for being too skinny. The actress shared that many producers at that time preferred actresses with voluptuous figures and dark, curly hair. She had neither, leading her to be scrutinised physically at times.

Sonali Bendre opens up about being body-shamed in the 90s

In the interview, Sonali Bendre shared that actresses weren't very skinny back in the 90s. She said, 'When I came in the industry, heroines didn't use 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 had straight black hair, and I was skinny.'

Sonali continued that despite Bollywood's unrealistic beauty standards, she persevered to showcase true acting talent. She also stressed the importance of feeling comfortable in your own skin. The Hum Saath Saath Hai actress stated, 'People might have set a 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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Sonali Bendre dove deep into her acting career in the 1990s and how it impacted her confidence. She talked about getting into the industry without any training in acting or dancing. Sonali said, 'I didn't really think of it like that, because I never thought I was on top of my game and clearly didn't feel that that's still to happen. Yeah, I genuinely feel that it never felt like I was on top of my game. When I got into the industry, I was not trained as an actor. I was not trained as a dancer. I was just fumbling and learning on the job. That kept me nervous, and I never really enjoyed the journey. When you're on top of the game and you're enjoying the journey, you're enjoying what you're doing on a day-to-day basis. I was too scared.'

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Sonali Bendre on the work front

Currently, Sonali is busy promoting her OTT show called 'Broken News'. This will be the show's second season, starring Jaideep Ahlawat and Shriya Pilgaonkar. The newsroom drama will be available for streaming starting May 3 on Zee5.

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