Swara Bhasker responded to body-shaming trolls at the Rise and Fall Season 2 premiere on Saturday.
She wore a purple saree with ‘moti’ embroidered on the blouse as a direct reply to abuse over her postpartum weight.
Bhasker told host Virender Sehwag that strangers had mocked her on social media and elsewhere for three years.
Rise And Fall Season 2 Premiere: Swara Bhasker Hits Back At Trolls Shaming Her For Postpartum Weight
She said she chose to accept and own the labels used against her, including comparisons to a buffalo, cow, hippo and elephant.
Summary
Season 2 of Rise and Fall premiered on Saturday and Swara Bhasker used the episode to answer body-shaming trolls in her own style. Bhasker is among the contestants on the show, hosted by former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag.
Swara Bhasker hits back at body shamers
Bhasker wore a purple saree and a blouse stitched with ‘moti’ (fat). She used the word to answer people she said have mocked her postpartum weight for three years.
The actress did not try to brush aside the abuse. Instead, she turned the label back on the people who used it and explained why she chose to wear it in front of Sehwag.
What Swara said
Explaining the blouse to Sehwag, she said, “Meri beti teen saal ki hai. Aur teen saal se mujhe itna logon ne…ajnabiyon ne, jinko mai bilkul nahi janti, social media pe, yahan wahan. (My daughter is three years old now. For three years now, strangers who I don’t know have trolled me on social media and elsewhere).”
She then listed the insults she said she has faced over her postpartum weight. “Moti hogayi hai, bhains hogayi hai, gai hogayi hai, hippo hogayi hai, haathi hogayi hai. Maine kaha mai sab hogayi hoon. Ab mai aapke in saare terminology ko accept karke own karti hoon. (She has become fat, she looks like a buffalo, cow, hippo, elephant. I said, yes, I have become that. I accept your terminology and own it now).”
In May, Bhasker shared a 2018 photo on social media and drew comments she called insensitive. She then replied with a longer post on the anger women face when childbirth changes their bodies.
“This is a hill I will repeatedly die on! The kind of rage and anger I’ve encountered in the last few years because my body has changed after childbirth and because I refuse to lose the weight on the timeline of strangers on the internet.. is bizarre! I want to say it- again and again. Women’s bodies have more purpose than sexualisation and being hangers for glamour,” she wrote in response.
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Rise and Fall Season 2 can be streamed on Prime Video and MX Player, with new episodes dropping every day at 12 pm.
Karan Patel, Priyanka Chahar Choudhary, Gautam Gulati, Shehzad Poonawalla, Siwet Tomar, Kaira Anu, Tej Pratap Yadav, Manish Kashyap, Kajal Raghwani, Niharika Tiwari, Sara Gurpal, Raj Grover, Irina Rudakova and Anish Bhaga have also participated in the show.
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