Flora Saini: I have been told ‘Aap mote ho gaye, aap character mein fit nahi hote’

Calling out the unrealistic body standards in Bollywood, actor Flora Saini says she has faced prejudices and has also been termed fat on auditions.

“There is just so much criticism. People reject you and accept you on the basis of your body size. Hamare yaha yeh bola jata hai arey aap mote ho gaye aap character mein fit nahi hote. I have been rejected so many times,” she tells us.

Saini, who started her career with Telugu films in 1999, says she could only find work down south at that time.

“I was doing very well for myself in south in the beginning of my career. Throughout those ten years, I never got one endorsement when I would visit Mumbai. For auditions I was told I need to lose weight and that used to be very damaging for me. I would leave Mumbai all scarred. Then in the south film industry at that time they preferred actresses who were a bit chubby and well endowed. But Mumbai trips were bad,” the 43-year-old says.

The Inside Edge and Stree (2018) actor says that because of that she developed body issues as well as food issues.

“I have had a love hate relationship with food. And I can’t even tell you how difficult it has been. I would starve for days and go on a binge after that. It made me sad when I didn’t eat for days and it made me sad when I ate so much,” she says.

And Saini blames the propagation of a certain body type as the standard in media and showbiz.

“You open a magazine and we see that we have been living by a beauty standard which is not real. You have to be healthy but not thin. I have seen healthy people who had such glow on their face and then they fall prey to this. We don’t need to follow that. A woman’s body is beautiful and is supposed to have curves. We need to talk about curves and make them beautiful,” she ends.