Don’t take life so seriously, Shilpa advises youngsters

Actor Shilpa Shetty Kundra is perturbed by the growing social media influence on young minds. “We are living in this time and age where social media plays such a huge role that you put a picture up and you are being judged by people who you have let into your world. It creates a lot of pressure,” says Shilpa, mother of a six-year-old herself. “The whole essence of living life with gratitude is taken for granted because you are living up to other people’s expectations,” she adds.

Shilpa feels that beauty cannot be defined by how one looks. “I want to tell youngsters not to take things so seriously. Live life, enjoy, and don’t care about what other people have to say about their idea of beauty,” she says.

Shilpa, who has films such as Life in a… Metro (2007), Phir Milenge (2004), Dhadkan (2001) and Baazigar (1995) to her credit, agrees that being in the public eye does put one under scrutiny. However, the actor does know how to take things in her stride, and deal with the pressure that comes along.

“It’s not pressure. It’s a huge compliment and the onus is on me when I go to an international podium and talk about a cause. Even health for that matter which I feel is of paramount importance in all of our lives and I think a lot of us take it for granted. I want to spread as much awareness as I can,” says the actor, who won reality show Celebrity Bigg Brother 5.

PHOTO: PTI Shilpa Shetty Kundra is concerned about the influence of social media on the youth