Actress Shruti Marathe has been gaining widespread acclaim for her role as Shraddha Sardesai in the crime-comedy web series Pritam and Pedro. The actress, who started her career in Marathi cinema and has been actively working in Hindi, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu film industries, admitted that her follower count has considerably spiked following the show’s popularity. While speaking with mid-day, the actress opened up about how social media is today. She also spoke about trolling and how the industry has changed in accepting actresses.
Shruti Marathe on facing body-shaming
Recalling how she was body-shamed and trolled during the early days of her career, she shared, “When I started my career with the Marathi series, there was no Instagram at that time. Facebook was very active then, and, I was very excited that after the first episode I’m going to get a lot of replies of how beautiful the season is and all that. And I still remember, I was very young. When you are like 24-25 years old, you are also very naive; you don’t understand a few things, you can’t take a few things. I remember after the first episode came out, there was a lot of backlash that came, ‘Who is this girl, she is so fat’.”
Talking of how it impacted her, she shared,”And I used to wear white clothes in that serial because my character was that way. ‘What is she wearing, why is she wearing such white clothes,’ people said. I was taken aback. I was like, ‘What wrong did I do that people are hating me so much?’ So, that is one thing I’ll always remember. ”
Shruti further added, “Because that was back in 2012, and after so many years, you understand that you don’t have to take everything seriously. If you are true to yourself. There is something called a good criticism, and there is something called hatred. So, you need to understand the difference between the two.”
Shruti says body positivity has increased in the industry
Talking if such body or size-related discussions have changed in the industry, Shruti adds, “I don’t know about the audience, but in the industry earlier it was more about a heroine should be slim. You needed to be seen to be a heroine or do a good character. That is no longer the criteria. Now, the basic criteria is you need to act, and that is how it should be.”
“Today on OTT we see there are wonderful actors irrespective of what their age, their size, their colour, their height is,” she adds.
Shruti, who has previously worked with Jr NTR in Devara: Part 1, further emphasises on how actors need to be fit, saying, “Having said that, losing weight and being physically fit are again two very different things. It is important to be physically fit because you are an actor who works like 12-14 hours a day. So, being physically fit is very important. But that necessarily doesn’t mean you have to lose weight.”
Exclusive! Shruti Marathe on being body shamed and trolled in the industry
