Sonali Bendre On Being Body-Shamed In The 90s: I Was Told I'm Not Woman Enough Because I Wasn't Voluptuous

It would not be wrong to say that Sonali Bendre was one of the prolific actors in Bollywood during the 90s. After making her acting debut in 1994 with ‘Aag’, the actress went on to star in several famous projects like action-romancer ‘Diljale’ (1996), ‘Major Saab’ (1998), ‘Zakhm’ (1998), ‘Sarfarosh’ (1999), ‘Hum Saath-Saath Hain’ (1999) and many more. However, she was considered ‘skinny’, which wasn’t the preferred body type at the time.

Recalling how she was body-shamed during the 90s, Sonalu told Bollywood Bubble, “Being skinny was definitely not the standard of beauty back in the 90s, so voluptuousness was the standard of beauty. I was told you were just not a woman enough if you were not voluptuous, you know which it shouldn’t be.”

She added, “I do agree body-shaming should not have any part in our society and especially little girls and the kind of ideas they are growing with and the crazy dieting people are doing. People are forgetting that it is not holistic.”

Not just that, the actress also spoke about her battle with cancer and how she could not step out with the cancer scars and bald head. She said, “That was the scary part as the bloated face, the scar and the baldness and especially when the hair just starts coming, it’s just the most ugly sight on the top of your head. But I did that. At the moment you’re scared of something and you’re feeling that ‘no, how can i do this’, you need to go out and do it and you just kill it right there or just crush it then. That was one way of looking at it.”

Work wise, Sonali made her digital debut with ZEE5’s show ‘The Broken News’, which also starred Shriya Pilgaonkar and Jaideep Ahlawat.