‘Wrong to say that I’ve got all my films because of Salman’
Over the last five months, there has been a general air of tension and worry around us due to the pandemic. Add to that, the anxiety of many people losing jobs. And actor Zareen Khan feels that this work-related stress is affecting everyone’s mental health.
The actor is worried about her work, too. “Thankfully, I’m with my family in such stressful times. But I’m also worried about my finances. I’ve to start working. My source of income is a place where nothing is certain. You never know when you’ll get work, more so if you are an outsider. Star kids get everything so easily. I feel bad that I’m not given the chance to show whether I’ve the potential or not,” says Khan.
Opening up about the difficulties she had faced during her initial years in Bollywood, Khan says her challenges aren’t over yet. “It has always been tough. When Veer (2010) didn’t do well, people blamed me. I was new and unpolished. I might have made mistakes but no one understood. I became the soft target. Getting work after that was difficult,” she says, adding that she’s thankful to Salman Khan for making her an actor.
“Salman changed my life. But people think he got me all my films till date. That’s wrong. He just helped with my debut, after that I was on my own. I can’t be a burden on him. In fact, when nothing was working out, he trusted me again with the song Character Dheela (Ready; 2011),” adds the 33-year-old.
Khan says all these things affected her mental state. Things were worse when people compared her to actor Katrina Kaif. “It was both frustrating and depressing, but I never gave up. It backfired because Katrina was active at that time and I was just starting. Somehow, people like such comparisons, Preity Zinta was compared with Amrita Singh, Ameesha Patel with Neelam, but in their cases Amritaji was done with her career and Neelam had also taken a break,” concludes Khan.