No doubt, even after so many years, Preity Zinta still tops the list of one of the most beautiful women in Bollywood. Her bubbly personality mixed with her girl-next-door looks continues to mesmerise people and I get why. But above that, fans love how Preity has always appeared more compassionate and warm in contrast to her contemporaries. So you can understand my disappointment when I came across this old video of the actress which turned out to be problematic AF!
A Reddit community shared an old clip of Preity and Shah Rukh Khan indulging in a candid conversation. During the chat, Preity asked SRK, “I remember whenever you used to invite a lady in our tour for an interaction I always used to wonder that ‘Why Shah Rukh Khan calls the most unattractive women?’ Yeah, you read that right.
Now before I tell you how SRK responded to this, I just want to express how disheartened I am to hear this from an actress who has always preached about love. Yes, everyone is entitled to have an opinion, but to call another woman ‘unattractive’ is just not it. Who gave anyone the right to come up with these beauty parameters? And to see women bring down each other, that too an actress with a mass following is extremely irresponsible.
We women already have a lot on our plate to fight for, from equal pay to equal opportunity. And on top of that, we are dealing with the many superficial standards set by our society. But we are finally in the era where women are uplifting each other, and pushing each other to do good. So while Preity’s statement might feel like it’s no big deal to many, for me it feels like a blow to that cause.
Now the wholesome part of this whole conversation was SRK’s response. He said, “I find them very beautiful. I find women beautiful. I want my whole life to be surrounded by women. I think they are conscious, they are gentle, they are soft, they are pretty, they smell good, they sound good. They feel good, they are lovely! I like women very very much. And I don’t hide this at all. But my love is not that I have to turn it into a physicality, or into a relationship. Stay as you are and I love you.” Take a look:
His answer made me realise that it took a man to remind a woman the actual beauty of women goes beyond her looks. The way he said “I find them very beautiful” took my heart and I wish everyone looked at women the way SRK does.
I hope Preity looks back at this video and realises the severity of her statement. As a public figure, she should have been more careful with her words.
Featured Image: Instagram
