Aren’t we a society where we expect our woman actors to be decked and dolled up at every instance they are under the scrutiny of the public eye, which is almost all of their lives? From Deepika Padukone being trolled for her 'skinny' appearance to calling out actors like Aishwarya Rai for their weight gain postpartum, the voices that nitpick on the appearance of actors, especially women, are as loud as ever.
Despite being at the end of relentless trolling about her personal life choices, Samantha has not let her A-game down. Aside from the fact that Samantha revealed being diagnosed with the autoimmune condition called Myositis, the actor has left no stone unturned to keep up with spirits and deliver hit films, with the most recent example being Yashoda. Now, she is set to grace the screens in Shaakuntalam, and a troll that is as old as the plot of the period drama resurfaced on social media. A particular media portal put out a post commenting on the actor's looks and connecting it with her Myositis.
In a succinctly worded post, Samantha, who expressed her displeasure with a lot of poise and dignity, said, “I pray you never have to go through months of treatment and medication like I did. And here’s some love from me to add to your glow.”
However, her Citadel co-star, Varun Dhawan, threw an additional colour to the meme, and wrote, “U don’t feel bad abt anything u just care about clickbait feel bad for u son. Also, the glow is available in Instagram filters. Just meet Sam trust me she was glowing.”
As we think, if the meme really targeted Samantha for her looks, or merely extended their sympathies, it is pertinent to ask, do we really need to expect our women who work onscreen to adhere to the pre-conceived notions of good looks and appearances? Or is it also the time to understand that acceptance has to come at all levels? If praises shower for her hard work put into Oo Antava, let’s also embrace the slightly so-called duller moments too.
(This story originally appeared on Cinema Express)