IS PREVALENT EVERYWHERE’

Sobhita Dhulipala, who was last seen in the Saif Ali Khan-starrer Kaalakandi, made her debut in Telugu films with the recently release Goodachari — a spy thriller. The actor has been getting rave reviews for her performance and from the industry. Of the many wishes she received on social media, one was from Telugu superstar, Mahesh Babu. She responded with a ‘thank you’ to his tweet but her supposedly ‘cold’ response was construed to be disrespectful.

Talking about it, Sobhita who wasn’t expecting this kind of an outrage says, “I was confused that a ‘thank you’ was seen as disrespectful purely because I hadn’t attached salutations like Sir/ superstar/The great etc., to it. Of course, I have immense respect for him (Mahesh Babu) and find it rather saddening that social media is not a place of safety. Anonymity shouldn’t be misused.”

Though she doesn’t want to distinguish between the working patterns between Bollywood and the South industry, the Raman Raghav (2016) actor says that the attitude of people is what needs to change, “I didn’t find a difference in the industries but overall, there absolutely is benevolent sexism. And it’s prevalent everywhere. It’s tiring. The media I believe can truly be a catalyst in changing the landscape.”

The actor is also dabbling with being a part of content on the digital medium, and will reportedly be seen in a web series by Zoya Akhtar. But she says that her choices are purely based on content and not medium. “It’s not really a matter of medium for me. I am drawn to moving stories and tend to pick what makes my heart soar. That being said, it is true that making web content is a much more relieving experience because emotions can be emoted as they are, without the fear of having to dumb them down for faster consumption or rejection from censor authorities.”