Cinema is a visual medium and as a result, many a times, actors find themselves being judged more for how they look and appear on screen than just their performance. And while it is a fair call to an extent, often times, this judgement can descend into bullying. For one Bollywood superstar, this body shaming and bullying defined her growing up years, until she overcame it to emerge victorious.
The actress who was body shamed by her own family Born to filmmaker Kumarsen Samarth and actress Shobana Samarth, Nutan was a sickly child. Even as her mother launched her as a child artiste as early as 1945 (when she was eight), Nutan’s thin frame was always criticised, even at home. Nutan began playing lead roles when she was 14 but she was severaly body shamed by people in the industry and her own family with many ridiculing her, calling her an agarbatti (incense stick).
Despite this, Nutan participated in the 1952 Miss India contest and ended up winning the regional Miss Mussoorie title. Yet, the body shaming persisted. Her mother Shobana Samarth then pulled her out of films and sent her to Switzerland to ‘recover’, fearing she had some dietary illness.
There, the actress gained 18 kg and worked on herself to return to India a fitter and more confident self. Nutan’s return to Bollywood and stardom In 1955, Nutan returned to Bollywood with Seema, her breakthrough film. She followed this with hits such as Paying Guest, Anari, and Sujata.
By the end of the decade, she was an es.