She’s most famous for her roles in No Entry, Golmaal Returns and Apna Sapna Money Money. When she left Bollywood in 2012, nobody was sure why. But Celina Jaitly finally gave us answers to why she left and what made her come back to the silver screen now 8 years later with her new film called Season’s Greetings in an exclusive Instagram live with us.
Talking about the film industry and it’s ways she said she left thinking she was never going to come back, but she did so just to honour her mother’s last wish.
She spoke to us at length about why she chose to leave the industry and it makes you wonder what actors and actresses have to go through on a daily basis.
She said:
I never wanted to come back to films again. It was mummy’s last wish that I come back. When I read the first critic review (For Seasons Greetings), I was amazed to see I was highlighted. I was so used to being sidelined just because of the way I looked because I was a beauty queen or a former model. That nobody was ready to give the actor within me a chance. The actor within me suffered a lot in my first innings and that was one of the reasons why I left cinema also.
Talking more about always being sidelined, Celina said:
You feel terrible but you can’t show it to the world because nobody really cares about how you feel. You have to keep your feelings to yourself, swallow your pride and watch your friends get the awards that you deserved. Some times you see your colleagues get appreciated much more for the exact amount of work that you did and you don’t understand why it’s being done. Why they’re being spoken about. I’m not saying undermine them but celebrate all people at the same level. I could not understand the disparity which was shown. That was the reason why I left cinema.
She further added:
I was constantly called a mannequin and I would never understand why. Being constantly called a plastic mannequin was getting a bit too much for me and I just couldn’t handle it anymore.
The actress also talked about how happy she was that in today’s day and age OTT platforms have opened up a new stage for people to be represented equally and she loves it. Her new short film Season’s Greetings is currently streaming on Zee5.