Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Zaira Wasim
Image Source: Indiatoday.in

Dangal Star Beautiful Zaira Wasim Quits Bollywood, Chooses Faith Over Career


86
106 shares, 86 points

Dangal star and Kashmir-born actress Zaira Wasim, announced via a lengthy Facebook post on Sunday that she had decided to quit Bollywood, as she believed that her profession was interfering with her faith.

Her declaration has triggered a political and social debate in India. The twitterati, as always, have chimed in with their opinions.

While some have supported Zaira’s right to make a decision about her personal life, others, like Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala, have claimed that her words might serve as fodder for bigotry among fundamentalists.

The actress, who had won a National Award for her role in Aamir Khan’s movie Dangal, said that she had long felt a disassociation from her chosen profession, as it reportedly interfered with her religion and her faith in God.

According to her associates, Zaira had for a long time been struggling to find a balance between fame and spirituality, and had not been happy with the way Bollywood functioned and the life into which it had led her.

Omar Abdullah, former Chief Minister of Kashmir and current vice president of the National Conference, said that no one should question Zaira’s choices and that she should do whatever made her happy.

Some, like former Bollywood actress Raveena Tandon, weren’t so supportive and called Zaira out for allegedly demeaning the film industry on the basis of religion.

Priyanka Chaturvedi of the Shiv Sena said that while Zaira leaving the film industry was a personal decision that should be respected, linking that decision to faith was uncalled for. Many persons from the same community had achieved great success through Bollywood. Does Zaira’s stance imply that these stalwarts didn’t properly understand their faith, she asked on Twitter. She further opined that Zaira shouldn’t do anything that would make Islam sound intolerant.

In her post, which was shared on various online platforms, Wasim claimed that she felt as though she had been struggling to become a different person for a long time.

Apart from Dangal, she had also played the lead in Aamir Khan’s ‘Secret Superstar’ and will be appearing in the soon-to-be-released film ‘The Sky Is Pink’, directed by Shonali Bose. This upcoming 2019 film also stars Farhan Akhtar and the recently-married Priyanka Chopra Jonas.

In the 2018 Filmfare awards, Zaira won a trophy in the ‘Best Actress’ category for her role in Secret Superstar. Previously, the 18-year-old actress had been closely associated with the #MeToo movement.

In 2017, she had claimed that she had been harassed by a co-passenger while on an Air Vistara flight between Mumbai and Delhi. In response, the airline had issued an official apology and promised a detailed investigation.

In her Facebook post, Wasim acknowledged the love and support that Bollywood had brought her way, but said that the industry conflicted with her sense of ‘imaan’ and that she had lost all blessing or ‘barakah’ from her life since she started acting.

Zaira Wasim said that fighting against her soul and her beliefs for so long and twisting her perceptions into what she wanted them to be, had been an exhausting trial. Life, she concluded, was both too short and too long to be at war with one’s own self.

Whatever the reasons might have been for her decision, the question, at the end of the day, remains the same:

Are women allowed to decide the course of their own lives? And if so, then what happens if their decision happens to go against the conventional wisdom of mainstream feminism?

And in Zaira’s case, is her spiritualism in conflict with her feminism, or can they complement each other yet?

Banner Image Credit: Indiatoday.in

6208 total views , 1 views today


Like it? Share with your friends!

86
106 shares, 86 points
Nupur Chowdhury
Nupur Chowdhury is a writer, blogger, novelist, and professional web content creator. In her free time, she can be found reading pulp fiction, binging on TV shows, or playing with her cat – sometimes all three at once. You can check out her blog for all the awesome updates! You can also connect with Nupur on Twitter and Facebook.