He’s Possessive: Esha Deol On Dad Dharmendra Being Wary Of Her Entering Bollywood
I don’t know much about parenting. But one thing that I know for sure is that a parent’s first instinct is to protect their children at all costs. And in doing that, sometimes they become so overtly possessive and protective of their children that they don’t let their children experiment or try different things. This is especially true for girl children. As a woman, there were so many things that my brother was allowed to do and experiment with and when it came to me I had to either wait to become of a certain age or not do them at all.
And this is the reality of almost every other household. Especially when it comes to dads wanting to protect their daughters. Most dads believe that the world is too cruel for their daughters and that their daughters won’t be able to handle it by themselves. And this mentality was prevalent in Bollywood actors when it came to their daughters joining the film industry. Of course, some of it just stinks of patriarchy and toxic masculinity. But Esha Deol has something to say about it.
Recently, in an interview, Esha Deol revealed that Dharmendra, her father, was not too keen on the idea of her joining the Bollywood film industry as he is ‘possessive’ and extremely ‘orthodox.’
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Esha Deol stated that she was not allowed to join the Bollywood film industry because her father wanted to keep her protected from that type of world. She said that her father, Dharmendra, thinks that girls should be kept away from all this and kept in a safe cocoon. She added, “As far as my father is concerned, he is possessive and orthodox, and for him, girls should be kept away from the world in a protected way. That was what he must have felt.”
Protecting your daughter and being possessive about her is a natural feeling. But to act on it to an extent that you don’t let her explore the world, make her own choices, make her own mistakes, etc. is not justified. Every woman should be given an opportunity to make mistakes and find her own path based on her own choices. I’m sure that not all her decisions are going to be perfect but it is through those imperfect decisions that she is not only going to learn but also grow strong enough to face whatever life throws her way. As parents, we need to ensure that our girls grow up believing that they can face anything independently.
