Mandana Karimi recalled her time in Bollywood, and how she felt 'disrespected', and was labelled 'difficult to work with'.
Iranian actor Mandana Karimi, known for appearing in the reality show ‘Bigg Boss’ and film ‘Kya Kool Hain Hum 3’, revealed that she quit Bollywood because it was getting ‘unhealthy’ for her mental health. During an interview, she recalled the ‘disrespect’ and ‘harassment’ that she faced in her decade in showbiz.
“I don’t care about the fame, I don’t care about the money I used to earn. I used to, when I was younger, but not anymore,” she told Shivani Pau. Mandana said that the breaking point came when she decided to accuse a director of sexual harassment a couple of years ago, and made the decision after knowing that another woman had experienced something similar with the same filmmaker. Speaking out against the filmmaker, she said, “created more damage for me than good for me.”
Mandana revealed that she was also tired of being labelled as ‘difficult to work with’, and how people would tell her that she doesn’t understand Indian culture. She said, “It’s an industry that, if I had a child right now, I would be worried if my daughter wants to be a part of Bollywood. The industry in India is very different. It runs on who you know, who your father is, who your family is. Yes, later on, it depends on how good you are and how talented you are, but it’s very competitive.”
Mentioning how certain situations can be ‘unhealthy’, Mandana added, “For me, Bollywood was like that. I tried to find good people to work with… I’m not saying that everyone is the same, there are some amazing people that I worked with… Unfortunately, in my career, I didn’t have that many of those people. I had people who were very disrespectful, they treat you like, ‘Oh, she’s a pretty girl, she doesn’t have support, we can do whatever we want’.
Mandana was the second runner-up on ‘Bigg Boss season 9’, and she was also seen in the reality show ‘Lock Upp’, hosted by Kangana Ranaut.