No matter what size you are, people will always comment on it: Sonakshi Sinha

20/05/2022

In the world of content creation and consumption, the stories revolving around women have gone a few steps further from where they were a decade ago.
If one accounts for all the content that’s recently been unveiled in cinemas and on OTT platforms, the stories pivoted on women will show a clear line of evolution.
From merely finding their spaces in a man’s world to understanding their own identities, flaws and imperfections, standing up for what they feel and standing up for one another.
The depiction of women’s stories has gone through a beautiful change. In a time like this, two actresses - Huma Qureshi and Sonakshi Sinha - joined hands to headline a project that puts body and weight-shaming into perspective with a good dose of humour. The teaser of the film was unveiled a few months ago.
Bring it up and Sonakshi says, “It hit home so hard when the script came to both of us. I would never have done that film with anyone else but Huma.
It’s so important to both of us. Body and weight-shaming has happened to both of us for years in our lives. It happened from the beginning of our careers in this line, and it still happens.
It hasn’t stopped. No matter what size you are, people are always discussing it, which I think is bordering on the unnecessary now. We talk endlessly about cutting out discrimination on the basis of sex, colour and race.
Why leave out body size and weight? Size should also be on that list of things that we should not be discriminated against. It was so important to do a film like this that tells you about two individuals - two women, who are talented and believe in living it up on their terms.
The question is: why is that so hard to digest for people if it happens in real life?”
Huma and Sonakshi were chilling together during the lockdown when Mudassar Aziz walked into the room, and found them gorging on their food.
That visual made him think if it was time to bring out a story inspired by the experiences the women have had at the hands of trolls, who have often shamed them for their size.
Sonakshi recalls this and says, “Huma and I are really close and we were literally sitting and chilling. Mudassar saw us and said, ‘Tum dono pe picture banani chahiye!’ It actually happened.
The prep for this film started at a time when both Huma and I were at our leanest. It turned out to be the best prep of our lives - from the readings to the shoot, we ate to our heart’s content.
We actually put on a lot of weight because we had to look convincing playing our roles. We had to represent a certain kind of woman. Both Huma and I are foodies, so we relished the experience.
But we didn’t do it without caution. It was important to not only get into the mindset of the characters but also to remind ourselves that after the film, we have to get back to our usual routines and healthy lifestyles.
In our regular cycles, we work out, stay fit and promote health and wellness. Every role doesn’t need us to look the way we do in Double XL. So, it took a lot to train our minds to know and believe that our size was temporary for that film and that we would be going back to our healthy sizes.
When we were overweight girls in our early years, both of us would beat ourselves for it. Huma and I made sure that this time we don’t beat ourselves up for putting on the weight. On the contrary, we had a blast!”

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