Actress Esha Gupta, best known for her movies in Jannat 2, Rustom, and Baadshaho, has time and again faced a cesspool of vitriol for her bold outfits on social media. The 36-year-old actress, who is currently seen in Aashram season 3, has defended her decision to wear the risque dresses in this interview and also pointed out the double standards that still exist for women in society.
Even though Esha is unbothered by the amount of hate that comes her way for embracing her body, she feels that it’s quite hypocritical of people to not react the same way when they find a male celebrity taking off his shirt.
“I think what I’m doing is what every other girl is doing but the only thing is that they are not a celebrity,” Esha told us. “I’m just being myself and living my life. I’m not trying to live my life as someone else. When it comes to negativity, I have stopped thinking about it years ago because people will talk, talk, and talk and after a point they will get tired.”
Esha continued, “I think it’s a good thing that people talk about you. At least they have not forgotten me. I’d rather be someone who has been talked about than be someone who people will say, ‘She is so nice. Let’s not talk about her.’ We come from a country where we have Ajanta and Ellora, Kamasutra. We have men taking off their shirts on screen and on TV shows and people go like, ‘Wow,’ but women are objectified in a saree and people say, ‘Arrey, ladki ki galti hai (It’s woman’s fault).’ It’s a problem that will take years to change. All I can say is that I’m very happy the way I am. It doesn’t matter what people say.”
In Aashram 3, Esha plays the role of an image builder, Sonia, who is brought to change the image of Nirala Baba, the titular character essayed by Bobby Deol. The actress said that saying yes to the Prakash Jha-directed web series was a no-brainer for her.
“I had heard about this show so much from word of mouth. Everyone was talking about it during the pandemic and I was at my parents’ home in Delhi at the time. And everyone would say, ‘What a show!’ So when it was offered to me by Prakash Jha and sir told me, ‘this is your character,’ I simply said, ‘I don’t want to hear anything. You just give me one rupee and I will still do it.’ I was not at all worried about money or shooting schedule or my dates. I told him all that is my manager’s headache. Everything was better and better for me in this show and I’m so glad that Prakash sir thought of me for the role of Sonia,” Esha said.
