9 Instances Of Fat-Shaming In Bollywood That Are More Than Offensive
indrani karmakarBA Hons Experience: 2.5 yearsIndrani is a writer and artist who likes to add a dash of humor to everything she does. She has two years of experience in writing articles across beauty, health, and lifestyle genres. After graduatin... more
Bollywood movies are full-packed with entertainment, and we all have our favorites. While some of these gems are made with a positive message to carry forward, others simply make us cringe. Body shaming and Bollywood have a weird history and sadly still persist in a few recent movies. It has only been dragged in the name of ‘comedy.’ Well, they should know that calling a slightly larger person a bus does not make us laugh, and it never did. Go through the list to know which of these movies are super offensive because of the toxic body shaming.
In This Article
1. Kal Ho Naa Ho
The movie is famous for all other things but this. Naina’s best friend Sweetu is constantly picked on for her weight. She is told she will be noticed and loved only when she loses her excess weight. There are scenes where she is also compared to a double-decker bus and treated as a comedic relief character based on her looks. No, we don’t find that funny, and we are glad movies are slowly realizing this toxic trait and not using such “jokes” anymore.
2. Kabir Singh
This movie has been criticized for many things, and body shaming is one of them. From violence to the comparison of healthy girls to teddy bears, it is everything we want to eradicate from society. Unfortunately, it also casually shames female friendships, and watching it will make you feel super uncomfortable.
3. Ishq
Just when you think this movie is all perfect, there is a scene where they make fun of a false rape accusation. They also insult the whole Parsi community and shame women for their weight. If you were to watch it today, you wouldn’t find it perfect.
4. Diljale
Seeing the poster might make you realize that it’s not something recent, but the song Ajay Devgan runs away from an overweight woman trying to kiss him makes us want to unwatch it.
5. Mission Mangal
Body shaming does not just end in movies you watched when you were young. Recent movies like Mission Mangal have them in abundance too. For example, there is a scene where Varsha’s capabilities are questioned because of her weight. Even though a disapproving gesture is given after the comment, it does not make her apologize for what she has done. This also leads to self-deprecating remarks that no one finds the need to point out.
6. Ghoomketu
In this movie, Ghoomketu (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) marries an overweight woman by accident, described as a bad fate. He even refuses to see her for 10 days and is scared of being overweight. The directors didn’t even show her face till she transformed into a skinny person. This is when he finds her attractive. It’s time Bollywood stopped linking fat with ugly or sending messages that are not worth watching.
7. Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham
Fat shaming is not acceptable, no matter the person’s age. Unfortunately, the movie’s first-half highlights Rohan’s fat-shaming, a chubby boy. Even his name being laddoo sounds cute till you know they use it to make him feel bad for the way he looks. While sibling teasing is normal, making a punchline about a person’s weight is far from funny.
8. Hadh Kar Di Aapne
While Bollywood and logic don’t really go on the same plate, some things are beyond acceptable. Some really cringey dialogues might have been accepted back then but will make you feel uncomfortable now. The whole scene where the hero tries to pulley an overweight man goes into the line of being insensitive rather than being funny.
9. Ujda Chaman
For a film that was supposed to address common insecurities like balding, it makes people feel insecure about their appearance, especially their weight. The movie intends to give a message of loving a person for who they are, but it drives all the attention to making a link between disability and being fat. This makes the very core of the movie problematic.
Even though the list is short, you must have come across many more movies and TV shows that consider body-shaming the highlight of comedy. Some movies even borrowed the DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) to make things look funnier for the heroine. And the worst is, it doesn’t just end there. All kinds of movies forcefully thrust comedy at anything that differs from the mainstream image of beauty. Hopefully, it is something future directors and actors will look into before signing in for new movie projects. Do you have a movie on your mind that is not on our list? Let us know in the comments section.
