Recently, former Bollywood actress Twinkle Khanna revealed the drastic lengths she and her peers went to in order to preserve the perfect on-screen persona throughout their careers. During an open discussion on Suitable Conversations with Shrayana Bhattacharya, Twinkle shared the difficulties she encountered while filming the song Mohabbat Ho Gayee for the Shah Rukh Khan movie Baadshah.
Twinkle’s admission illuminates the unsaid truth of the movie business, which is that actresses frequently turned to severe dieting in an attempt to meet socially acceptable beauty standards. Twinkle acknowledged in the interview that she was starving herself, living mostly off of chickpeas, and that she was denying herself vital nutrients.
She laughedly explained that her diet was the product of her own “brainwave,” partially because she is Gujarati and finds chickpeas to be inexpensive and readily available. Twinkle joked that she felt like a “gas canister” during the photo session and that her tight diet was making her nervous that she would burst at the seams.
“I am aware that many actresses claim to eat anything and not follow a diet, but in reality, the majority of them are starving. I was going hungry,” she said. I don’t know why we wore those catsuits, but if you want your stomach to be flat, that’s what I want. I had the idea that I would survive off of channa on my own. Being Gujarati, I thought for some reason that it was also inexpensive, and you know, I could obtain it readily wherever I went. Thus, I followed this diet.
Twinkle also talked about the difficult scenario she had to perform, where Shah Rukh had to lift her out of concern that she would “explode”. She was nervous at first, but she pulled it off beautifully. He had to hoist me up in this song, and even though I was terrified I might blow up like the Parliament’s gas canisters, I didn’t. I did survive that bit too, as you can see by the way my teeth are clenching there and other things are clenching as well.
When Twinkle thought back on the reaction to her role in Badshah, she saw that people weren’t too harsh about the criticisms that were blatantly critical of her looks. She disclosed, “I did have a review from that movie, but it was limited to talking about my navel. And it was all right at the time; no one objected. It didn’t seem misogynistic to us. I believe I even thanked the author.
The ensemble cast of Badshah, which was helmed by Mustan and Abbas Burmawalla, included Shah Rukh Khan, Twinkle Khanna, Rakhee Gulzar, Johnny Lever, and Amrish Puri. After making the switch from performing to writing, Twinkle became a popular novelist and has published her fourth book, “Welcome to Paradise.” The book is an anthology of short stories that examine relationships, betrayal, and heartbreak.
In addition to providing a window into the difficulties experienced by actresses in the past, Twinkle Khanna’s open admission highlights significant issues with the exaggerated ideals of beauty that are pervasive in the movie business. Twinkle’s candor brings a vital viewpoint to the growing dialogue about body image and representation as it gains traction
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