Rocky Aur Rani's Anjali Anand On Being Judged For Her Looks: 'Many Assumed I Gave Sexual Favours For Work'

Actor Anjali Anand recently made her Bollywood debut in Karan Johar’s Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. She played Ranveer Singh’s “overweight” sister, Gayatri in the film. Since her debut performance, the actor has been garnering appreciation for her impactful confrontation scene. In a recent interview, the actor spoke about she always believed in herself, despite people trying to demoralise her because of her looks.

Talking to Siddharth Kannan in an interview, Anjali said, “Usually in movies, even in older Karan Johar films, there are these characters, like Miss Mimi, who are sitting and eating french fries, burgers, food is spilling out of their mouth, we didn’t know better. We did not know that we should not show a person, a fat person, just eating all the time.”

According to an Indian Express report, Anjali was presumably referring to Miss Mimi from Aamir Khan and Madhuri Dixit’s 1990 film Dil.

Talking about the way Gayatri’s character was written, Anjali said, “There was an opportunity to turn the page and make that person come out and say it.” In the film, Gayatri breaks into a monologue and calls her family out for attacking her esteem by constantly commenting on her weight and eating habits. She confronts them for calling her ‘Golu’ instead of ‘Gayatri’ all her life.

This particular scene resonated well with the audience. Mirroring their sentiment, Anjali said, “I don’t think I am less than the next person just because I look a certain way. I have complete faith in my talent and intent. I know what I bring to the table.”

The actor, who is currently seen on Rohit Shetty’s show Khatron Ke Khiladi 13, also made a similar statement after completing a challenging stunt on the show. She said that people often assume what she can and cannot do because of her looks, however, she has always proved them wrong.

Anjali recalled that 10 years ago she had joined an acting school, and people would tell her that she will never become an actor. However, Anjali’s goals were always clear. “I said, ‘I don’t want to be the best friend who is eating burgers on the side, I want to be the lead of the show or whatever I am doing’,” she said. The actor then starred as the lead in TV shows including Dhai Kilo Prem and Kulfi Kumar Bajewala.

However, she revealed that after landing her second lead role on TV, many people suspected that she had given sexual favours in exchange. “When I got Kulfi, which was my second show, people have DMed me, 100s of DMs saying ‘Who gives a fat girl a second show as a lead? I am sure she must be sleeping with someone’. And I am wondering, these people think you won’t get work without sleeping with someone? It is stupid that we are still talking about all of this,” she said.