More often than not, women are told to look a certain way to seem delicate and feminine. It’s very common for women who work out in the gym to be shamed for looking like a man because of their biceps. And we’re not the only ones who face that. Celebs too face such societal beauty standards. Recently, Samantha Ruth Prabhu starred in a film titled Shaakuntalam. This film is based on Kalidasa’s play Shaakuntalam which is the love story of Shakuntala and King Dushyanta. The film is written and directed by Gunasekhar and in a recent interaction with an entertainment portal, the director revealed that he asked Samantha to get rid of her abs for the film to fit into the role of Shakuntala.
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Speaking to Times Of India, Gunasekhar shared that he asked Samantha Ruth Prabhu to get rid of her abs and biceps and rework her figure as it wasn’t suitable for the role of a “soft and tender” Shakuntala. He further added that the actress agreed and asked for some time to do the same. Gunasekhar also revealed that he did not have any plan B or any other actress in mind for Shaakuntalam while adding that since day 1 he wanted Samantha to be a part of the film.
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Now, I get where the director is coming from. I don’t blame him for asking Samantha Ruth Prabhu to get rid of her abs and biceps. I mean, as audience society would’ve pointed it out and wouldn’t have accepted the actress in the character. The root of this problem is our society which believes that a woman looks feminine and delicate only when she’s not muscular. According to society, women must look a certain way and behave a certain way or they’re labelled as masculine or manly. We’ve all come across people who believe that a muscular woman is manly but ye kisne decide kiya that women can’t have biceps or abs or developed muscles in general? I mean, god made us this way, didn’t he?