Moti. Gol matol. Laddu. Football…these are some of the names I have been called by people. Yes, you guessed it right. I am overweight. Worse still, a young, unmarried girl who is overweight. And the society has a massive problem with it. Why? Because ‘fat’ people are only supposed to be ridiculed and made fun of. That is what we have been taught, haven’t we? We laughed at Tun Tun. We laughed at Guddi Maruti. We laughed at Bharti Singh. Why? Because they’re all fat women, which makes them less of a woman and more of a joke to be laughed at.

We look at jiggly arms and dimpled thighs and flabby tummies and we are taught to feel disgusted by them. We revere washboard abs. Young girls are often made to look up to the girls in perfect shape, not by their own choice but by societal pressure. Trying to fit into that most admired group of girls, these little ones barely in their adolescence, resort to starving themselves. It is already a depressing state watching your body change, not for good and this is something I myself went through a few years ago. Hectic work schedules and irregular eating habits contributed in me gaining a tremendous amount of weight in a short span of time, which also led to me being depressed and tensed for myself. So, having been through that situation, I know it isn’t easy to deal with, especially when the people closest to you are the ones giving you an even harder time while you battle through this change. But I rose above all of that only because I knew what is worth paying attention to and what isn’t and that exactly is my message to all the young girls out there.

Our body is our pride and we need to be in a position to accept it. While people will always find a reason to walk up to you and somehow tell you about your not-so-perfect body size, ignore it. The only one who should be comfortable about your body is you. I have always been pointed out for my weight, even by my mother or ‘concerned’ aunties who would just come and say “you’ve changed a lot”. I knew how to decode that into “Oh, you’ve gained a lot of weight” but I didn’t care enough to feel offended because I was confident with my body. I love my body the way it is. And thanks to this very body, today I have been given this incredible opportunity of becoming an actress. I was chosen by Sony SAB to play the lead character in ‘Tera Kya Hoga Alia’ thanks to this very supposedly flawed body of mine. And honestly, nothing could make me happier.

I hope that through this character of Alia, I am able to reach out to these young girls to help them understand that their true worth does not depend on how they look on the outside but rather on who they are on the inside! Because I know there must be a lot of young girls who don’t think they’re pretty enough, or thin enough or well, just worthy enough because that’s what the world has been telling them until now. Its important to live a healthy life but do not starve yourself to fit in, in what this society perceives ‘as perfect’. Don’t let the size of your waist decide what you eat, wear or do because confidence will make you happier than any diet ever will.