Dear Salman Khan, How Dare You Body-Shame a Woman on National Television?

We live in the 21st century and unfortunately, in India, people are still obsessed with "thin" women and fair skin. And when a "superstar" like Salman Khan indulges into promoting and glorifying one of these, it is bound to set a wrong example for people out there. When I came across an article on the internet which claims that Salman Khan body-shamed a 42-year-old woman on the sets of Dance Deewane, it left me FURIOUS! What enraged me, even more, was the fact that the audience burst into a huge laughter when Salman commented on the contestant's weight.

To brief you up, let me tell you first what exactly happened on the sets of the show. A 42-year-old woman Meenal Dhapre, a huge fan of Madhuri Dixit and Salman Khan requested to hug Madhuri before her performance on dance Deewane. She was obviously excited to meet her favourite actress and hence came running from the stage towards where Madhuri was sitting. At this point Salman Khan said, "araam araam se kahin stage na toot jaaye." How dare he have the audacity to tell her that? On national television? And nope, that wasn't enough.

Watch the video of Salman body-shaming Meenal Dhapre on Dance Deewane here (From 1: 04:00 towards the end).  

When Meenal couldn't stop interacting with Madhuri and said that she was from a 'chhota shahar', Salman asked her how she could fit in there. And then gave her a hug. Meenal, who was a little too overwhelmed, fell from the stage, and when she finally returned for her performance on Mera Piya Ghar Aaya, Salman kept standing near the stage saying "main wahan isliye khada tha ki aap kahin fir se tappa khakar gir gayi to."

For a 52-year-old man, who has been a part of an industry that is so progressive with it's cinema, to have commented like that on national television is utterly shameful. Dear Salman Khan, if you are reading this, as a woman, as a plus size woman, let me tell you this: I have faced umpteen issues while growing up where I heard nasty comments like these just because I didn't fit into the society's definition of "beautiful" and trust me, it was a major cause for the low self-esteem for me. Every time someone commented on my weight, I felt humiliated and bogged down. Please understand that to comment on somebody's weight or physical appearances is not cool. To tell someone  "araam araam se kahin stage na toot jaaye" is not cool.

Oh and let me remind you, Salman Khan was the one to lecture Priyank Sharma on Bigg Boss 11 when he fat-shamed Arshi Khan and Shilpa Shinde. I sincerely hope, this drills some sense into Salman and he apologises to Meenal.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 05, 2018 09:56 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).