Namita Thapar talks about body shaming in India, being called ‘moti’; asks pitcher ‘why make clothes for all sizes?’

Shark Tank India judge Namita Thapar opened up about being body shamed in the latest promo of the show that was shared by Sony Entertainment Television. While listening to the pitch about a clothing brand selling plus sized clothes, the executive director of Emcure Pharmaceuticals, said she has faced body-shaming herself. This is not the first time Namita has spoken about being body shamed. A few months ago, during an interview, Namita had revealed that she was body shamed as a teenager for being overweight and having facial hair. Also read: Netizens disagree as Shark Tank’s Namita Thapar claims ‘educated househelp’ posted hateful comment from her phone

In the Shark Tank India season 2 promo released on Thursday, Namita said to an entrepreneur pitching her business idea, “Sach much India mein jo ye body shaming jise kehte hain, jo yeh ‘moti, moti’ bulate hain, uski target main bhi ban chuki hoon. Aapne aesa kyun nahi socha ki mein only plus size ke liye fashion banati hoon, na ki sab sizes ke liye (I have faced body shaming myself, have been called fat. Why did you not want to make an excusive brand for plus sized women, instead of having all sizes).”

In response to Namita’s question, the pitcher said in Hindi, “The biggest problem in the plus size industry is that plus size people are treated like outcaste. We want them to feel included by not having a separate size chart or collection for them. They are a part of our entire range of collections.”

Last year in August, speaking to author Chetan Bhagat on his talk show on YouTube, Namita had said that till she was 21, she had low esteem and was bullied for her weight and facial hair. “I was not like this when I was a kid. I was very overweight, I had a lot of facial hair and acne, I was body shamed a lot as a teenager… and I used to feel very ugly,” Namita had told Chetan Bhagat on his chat show Deeptalk. She had further said, “No guy looked at me, it was me looking at the guys and having crushes, let’s just say that. When you’re body-shamed like that as a teenager, that leaves a lot of scars… I had a lot of facial hair and acne, and there was a guy in my class who’d call me ‘the girl with the moustache’ in Marathi.”