Saranya Mohan: Shaming the shamers

If Aishwarya Rai’s post-delivery weight gain got the trend started,  Bollywood’s obsession with the ‘lean new mom’ has travelled down south as well. While Aishwarya remained unperturbed by the hullabaloo around her weight, other new mommies in Bollywood started obsessive workout sessions to look their old self again, chiefly Kareena Kapoor.

Body weight shaming is now the new obsession on social media, with things hitting an all new low. South Indian online bullies have shifted base to body shaming actresses, who are no longer in the industry. Nazriya Nazim was one of the first victims, followed by Samvrutha Sunil, who was body shamed for her post delivery weight gain. The latest victim is Saranya Mohan.

Saranya who decided to stay away from the limelight after marriage, had given birth to a baby boy a few months back. A photograph of the new mother had gone viral and social media was abuzz with unsavoury comments about her weight gain.

She however, seems to have taken  it all lightly. “I am pretty cool about this whole thing, because this is not the first time a woman has gained weight after giving birth. This has been the norm for ages. But what I do not understand is how did this become such a big talking point all of a sudden... I believe it is mostly some men behind all this. I don’t understand what is happening to all these people.” Both Saranya and her husband have preferred to stay silent about the comments — “We discussed what was going on, we decided to ignore it initially. There are so many other important things going on here.”

Saranya’s husband, however, posted a minimal yet power-packed punch reply on his Facebook page — a befitting reply to every single body-shamer ever. “Surprisingly a lot of support has also been pouring in for both myself and my husband for the past two days.” Actor Kaniha has always been vocal about fighting body-shamers. Kaniha was inadvertently caught in a similar situation when she walked the ramp which revealed her post pregnancy stretch marks. “I started acting when my baby was 10 months old; luckily people in the industry were not biased. I knew I had post pregnancy weight gain, which every mother goes through. I did not face any kind of body shaming soon after the pregnancy mainly because I was based in US back then but recently I walked the ramp, when my son was 2.5 years old. I wore a lehenga which revealed the stretch marks — I didn’t  mind. That became a talking point. Nothing stops them from going online and talking, people talk trash. Usually we were not as affected as Bollywood; people down south had a little more concern and warmth. But looking at this current trend, I am  surprised; it is not at all healthy.”

For a long time Shweta Menon was every Malayali’s favorite controversy queen. Every move she made created ripples in the fragile temperament of the average Malayali mind. She was essentially one of the first actors to encounter online abuse.  “Always remember there are women in your house as well. People should understand that such online abusers are the ones who do not respect the women in their own house. But there is no point preaching. I was always very cool about it. All of us have gone through it, even Ash (Aishwarya Rai) has gone through it. Saranya just had a baby, she must be enjoying this moment so much. I don’t think any woman would care     about their weight and their fat after giving birth.”

“I don’t think actors should respond to such comments. The kind of words and the type of language they use online, its terrible. We have so much to do otherwise. If we start responding to such comments, we will only have time to sit inside the cybercrime office. I am so used to such filthy words people use in social media, so much that I pity their thoughts, I pity their mind.”