I Didn’t Lose Weight To Get Work, But It’s Important To Be Healthy: TV Actress Shrenu Parikh
I’ve always been on the chubbier side of the body spectrum. And that means that I have been subjected to all kinds of comments that asking me to lose weight, or dishing out unsolicited advice on how to lose weight, or why I should lose weight. I’ve been bombarded with questions like ‘how will someone like you if you don’t lose weight?’, ‘don’t you think you should lose some weight? You’d look so much prettier, and my personal favourite – ‘who will marry you if you don’t lose weight?’
Having survived this, every time I’d lose some weight, there were people around me ready to point that out. And what is funny to me is that they expect a ‘thank you’ when they tell you that you’ve lost weight. Why would I be thankful? I wasn’t doing it intentionally and it just happened. I don’t mind the extra kilos in my corner because I’m comfortable with it.
Now, I’m not saying there is no need to lose weight, but do it to get fit and healthy instead of doing it to match societal standards. Our society has time and again glorified the zero figure through movies, TV serials, series, etc. Anything more than zero, we don’t accept.
Out of the many actors that have spoken about this problematic body standard, TV actress Shrenu Parikh amplified it in an interview with Etimes. She spoke about how people get typecasted in the industry and how people should not worry about being size zero. She advocated being in love with your body and treating it with respect and care.
Shrenu opened up about how “Our body is a temple, we have to give it a lot of attention. I focussed on my diet, workout and things just fell in place. I’ve always been a short, curvy, and chubby girl, I own it up and I kick a** with it. Things are changing. Across the globe also celebrities are promoting positive body image and it’s time that we shed our zero figured requisites and be happy with our own bodies.”
When asked about her own weight loss journey, she spoke that her transformation was more about getting healthy and fit rather than losing weight. The pandemic made her realize that she needs to take care of her health and stay fit.
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When asked if she lost weight to get better opportunities, Shrenu said, “The kind of projects that are in the pipeline are aligned with my photoshoots. The ethnic wear and the western looks are for one of my upcoming projects. It was a deliberate move because I wanted to venture into OTT. So, I worked really hard. Having said that, I also want to say that I did not lose weight per se to get work but yes, after COVID, I did realize how important it is to stay healthy.”
Staying fit and healthy has been the need of the hour since always. We need to ensure that our minds and our bodies are kept healthy and active. The purpose of working on your body should not just be with the intention of losing weight but rather with gaining health.
We need to learn to respect our bodies. With the ridiculous body standards set by society for women and how they should look, we need to break these barriers. We need to fight for our own bodies. We need to treat our bodies with the care and tenderness that it deserves. We need to own up our own bodies and get comfortable in them. Because if we don’t then no one else would. Moreover, we need to normalize various body types and shapes. We were all made different. And different is always more beautiful than looking like every other woman.
