For me, actress Vidya Balan has also been a strong force for all things progressive. Whether her film or sartorial choices, the actress has always chosen to be different. I remember, a few years back when I saw her on-screen in Parineeta I was smitten by her right then, later on, what I admired about Vidya was her utter grace. When many leading ladies walked down the red carpet in stunning lavish gowns, Vidya donned a sari and managed to pull my heartstrings at the least. Recently, once again, I witnessed this side of Vidya when she wrote a heartfelt note on social media about body positivity.
The actress shared pictures of her different face profiles and narrated an incident she witnessed with a fan off-late.
Before you read the note, see the picture here:
In her note, Vidya wrote…
A few days ago, at an event this pretty girl comes up to me for a pic …There was a crowd and I was trying to do as many pics as possible. People were jostling and in the middle of this chaos, the girl was back for another pic. My manager (who is very sharp) promptly told her,’aapne toh le liya…plz aur nahi’ .To which she said, ‘ galat side se liya,main achchi nahi lag rahi ,yeh post nahi kar paungi’.She was miserable & followed me to the car, relentless in her pursuit to get the perfect picture ..almost making it sound like her life depended on it…I obliged …I then got into the car bemused…and it made me think. You know I’ve always preferred my left profile over my right…but over time as I started on this journey of trying to love & accept myself a little more each day, I realised that liking one profile meant liking one part of me to the exclusion of the other…because the truth is that I not only liked my left but also disliked my right profile. I would tell photographers & cinematographers to avoid shooting me from the right…I would be scared if someone shot me from the right cuz I thought it was my ugly side. It was almost like the fear of being found out. Today with the growing acceptance and love for every part of me and all of me, I don’t care where I’m being shot from…I’m no longer scared of anyone seeing that side of me. Truth be told, today not only do I like my right profile, I actually love it… and not because my right profile changed but because I realized it’s never going to. What changed is the way I looked at myself and that changed how I see myself. Hence I returned to the room and took this selfie at the end of a long day sans make-up…because I LIKE me just the way I am. Do you like one profile less than the other? If you do and even if you don’t, post that selfie with both your sides in full glory.
I have truly admired Vidya for being so grace personified, for loving herself the way she is and for saying it loud to the world. On the work front, Vidya will be seen in Oh Womaniya and Neeyat next.