Banita Sandhu Lays Threadbare Ills Of Body-Shaming In The Film Industry

Welsh actress Banita Sandhu, who is known for her roles in the Bollywood flicks October and Sardar Udham, opened up about body shaming and revealed how she was once criticised for being too skinny.

"I remember getting body shamed when I did a South Indian movie. I remember people calling me ugly because I looked like a twig," she said in a conversation with ANI, recalling how that comment affected her.

"And how could the co-star be attracted to me in the movie because I was so skinny. That was the first time I think I experienced body shaming," she said. "But at the same time, it was this weird, it almost felt like a simulation because it was happening online. I don't know how to explain it. And it was from a culture that was something I hadn't grown up in."

The actor chose to take it in her stride.

"I was like, oh, okay, the beauty standard in this region is different to what I look like. And that's just how I took it. I didn't take it to heart. Like, oh, my God, I need to gain so much weight now. And I'm because I'm naturally very skinny, you can literally ask any producer I've worked with, like I eat the most on set."

Sandhu was born and brought up in Caerleon, Wales. She made her cinema debut with the 2018 Shoojit Sircar directorial October, starring Varun Dhawan. This was followed by the American TV series Pandora, and the Tamil film Adithya Varma, a remake of the Telugu hit Arjun Reddy.

The ace star said, "I was incredibly blessed. It was one of those things that, it was like a domino effect, and everything kind of just fell into place, and to have, your first movie with a director like that, too, it's a blessing and a curse, because it's a blessing to have your first movie with a director like that, but it's a curse in a sense that you really realise what a privilege it is to have a director like that for your first movie, and it's hard to get back there again."

Sandhu is gearing up for her next project, Detective Sherdil, starring Diljit Dosanjh.

While speaking about her experience in the film, she said, "I think it was the funnest time I've ever had on a movie set, honestly. I had the best time. It was incredible working with an ensemble cast like this, and we shot in Budapest, and it was so beautiful, and I really had a blast on this one."

Sandhu had featured in the music video Jindh Mahi, alongside Dosanjh in 2018.

"The great thing with Diljit is he is exactly the same as when I worked with him for the first time. He just keeps his head down, and he focusses, and he has a great work ethic, and incredible discipline, and I'm not surprised to see that he's gotten to where he has, because I've seen him put in the work over all of these years."

"He's (Dosanjh) the best-dressed man in India, hands down," Sandhu signs off.

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