‘It’s hard for girls to live how they want to’
It is a shame that I have to explain myself. I didn’t intend to make headlines when I put up the post. NIA SHARMA, ACTOR
When actor Nia Sharma posted a sexy video of herself dancing on Instagram, she didn’t expect it to blow up into a controversy. Soon after the post went up, The Ek Hazaaron Mein Meri Behna Hai actor was spammed with comments attacking her and calling her a porn star. Unfazed by the attacks, Nia says, “It waswa so silly. The commcomments were as trivialtrivia as they were trash. It is a shame thattha I have to explain tomd myself. I didn’t intendin to makem headlineshe whenwh I put up tthe post, but thanksth for the publicity.”pub
The actor says she was appalled at the reactions, which caught her unawares and left her annoyed. She reasons that she understands and knows what she is doing if she has posted the video herself. “Are people mad? It was not a drunk post. We were having fun while shooting a music video, and my team shot me while I was posing and I put it online. People on social media hide behind anonymity and feel they can get away with [posting rude comments]. If someone spoke to me this way in person, I would punch their face in,” she says. Nia is also glad that the media has been supportive of her stance and has understood her point of view.
Nia has since posted another video with a reply to the hostile comments that says, “Here’s one more from the photoshoot!! Ready to s***shame a girl again? Go aheadddddd.. (sic)” She says, “Why are people making it so difficult for girls to live the way they want to in India. Let’s not make India a place where a girl has to think 10 times before going out or wearing what she wants. Do people want me to cover myself up from head to toe? Are we in India or Afghanistan? Calling me a porn star was... porn stars have a dignified life. They earn a living and have chosen the profession as a career. I respect porn stars more than I respect these trolls.”
Nia will soon be part of a web series in which she plays a mistress. She admits that she is “scared to put up photos” of the shoot, as she appears in a sexy avatar. The actor maintains that she will continue to act in TV shows and will work in them with the “poise and sincerity required”. But she says that if what she puts up online “doesn’t go down well with people, then they can go f*** themselves”.