DANGAL STAR ZAIRA TROLLED
Want to apologise to all those whom I have unintentionally hurt, I am not an icon, she says
Kashmir’s 16-year-old Dangal star Zaira Wasim issued a cryptic Facebook apology after being trolled for meeting J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti. She later deleted her post, but received support from Bollywood celebrities.
SRINAGAR: Days after meeting chief minister(CM) Mehbooba Mufti, Zaira Wasim, the girl from Jammu and Kashmir who played the role of Geeta Poghat in Aamir Khan starrer ‘Dangal’, now finds herself surrounded in a controversy. Photographs of her meeting with Mufti have not been well received by some in the state, and the 16-year-old is being trolled on the social media relentlessly.
After receiving accolade from the film industry and elsewhere, Zaira met Mufti on Saturday. However, the Srinagar-based girl was trolled on social media when photos from the meeting emerged.
On Monday, Zaira took to social media to post an “open confession/apology” on her facebook page, and later reproduced the same on her twitter handle. In the post, the young actress apologises to the people for having “offended them”.
Without naming anybody, Zaira says, she knows people have been offended and displeased by her recent actions. She also did not spell out what she is apologising for.
She wrote, “I want to apologise to all those whom I have unintentionally hurt. I want them to know that I understand their sentiments behind it, especially considering what had happened (in Kashmir) over the past six months.” “But I hope people also understand that there are certain circumstances that emerge which one cannot control. I hope people still remember that I am just a 16-year-old girl and I hope you treat me accordingly. I am sorry for what I did, but it was not a deliberate decision and I really hope people can forgive me,'' she adds. In her post Ziara also objects for being portrayed as a ‘role model for youth in the valley’. “...I am being projected as a role model for Kashmiri youth. I want to make it very clear that I do not want anyone to follow my footsteps or even consider me as a role model. I am not proud of what I am doing and I want everyone, especially the youth, to know that there are real role models out there, whether they be in this time or in our history,” she writes.
Zaira is not the only person who had objected to such portrayal by the media and government. During the five months of unrest, many IAS officers from the state, including Shah Faisal, who was the first Kashmiri to top the civil services, had objected to being hailed as an icon by the national media.
Reacting to these developments, former CM Omar Abdullah also came out in Zaira's defence. “A 16-year-old should not be forced to apologise for meeting Mehbooba Mufti. What are we coming to !!!! '' he tweeted.
He also criticised Mufti and wrote “I’ve a problem with Mehbooba Mufti trying to usurp other people’s success to cover up her own failures but why punish/troll people she meets?” REMOVES POST, WRITES CLARIFICATION
Later on Monday, Zaira removed her post and wrote another, clarifying that she had not been forced into apologising and requested everyone not to blow the matter out of proportion.
She wrote, “Regarding my last post, I have no idea why this has become such a big issue. I just wanted to make sure that I did not hurt anyone's feelings. All of a sudden it has been turned into national news. I am repeatedly telling people that I have not been forced into anything by anyone.”
She further said that her earlier post was not meant against anyone and that she was making sure that no one gets hurt by what she is doing.
“This post was not meant against anyone. I just wanted to make sure that people are not hurt by what I am doing. From media to everyone else, please don't blow this out of proportion. Neither was I forced, nor am I against anyone. Hopefully this post just stops this once and for all,” she wrote.
The Kashmir valley witness a five-month long unrest following the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani on July 8, 2016. His death sparked antiIndia protests in the Valley, leading to a curfew being imposed in the region for a long time.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that Zaira has reportedly bagged another role in an Amir Khan movie which is based on a girl who becomes a Youtube sensation after parents refuse to support her love for music. The movie is reportedly based in Kashmir.
With inputs from agencies