Actor Sanam Jung, who is currently playing an overweight woman in a drama highlighting the issues of body shaming, took to her social media to denounce outdated beauty standards. The actor urged everyone to stop bullying others for their appearance and spread kindness and empathy instead.
On Friday, Jung reshared a clip from her drama Pyari Mona on Instagram. The clip sees her crying out loud to her mother about how she’s happy the way she is. “My only problem is that I’m fat. Isn’t it?” Mona, Jung’s character, asks her mother in the clip. As her mother responds in the affirmative, Jung continues to fight back saying that she does not want to return to her husband and change herself for him because “she’s happy”. Alas, being happy and fat do not go together for society.
Pointing out the absurd standards of beauty, Jung wrote, “On a daily basis, we make people feel pathetic about being the way they are, and for looking the way they do. It’s high time, we move on and look beyond physical features.” She added that this is not just about Mona, but all the other girls who could relate to her character. “I’ve met so many girls living Mona’s life and trust me, it is not easy. Let’s put an end to bullying, body shaming and putting each other down. Live and let live,” she concluded.
Earlier in an interview with BBC Urdu, Jung opened up about how relatable Mona’s character is for people everywhere, even celebrities. “Celebrities are expected to look stunning all the time and they should since it’s a part of their job,” the Dil-e-Muztar actor said. “I never see oversized actors onscreen. It has more to do with our industry as it’s still evolving. Having a skinny body makes it easier for you to enter showbiz because it fits the ideal vision of beauty and makes everyone happy as well. It’s also incredibly difficult for a healthier person to get styled in our business.”
Jung then went on to detail how Pyari Mona stands out from the rest of the dramas on television. She said, “Pyari Mona does not follow the tropes of mainstream television. Nothing that involves people falling in love, or cheating on each other, nor does it focus on mothers rejecting their son’s true love or getting their children married without consent. Pyari Mona focuses on mental health, depression and body positivity.”
The actor was happy to notice that the audience has managed to forge a personal relationship with her latest offering. “I know so many people who have come up to me and said, ‘Sanam, this is my story’. Even today I visited a salon and a girl there stopped me and said, ‘Thankyou for doing this show, Sanam, this is my story’. Everyone is relating to it and I love it!”
However, Jung originally rejected the script because she was unsure about the public’s response. “It was the second time that I realised that this is my story and I’ve been through it. I haven’t experienced what Mona did with her own family. I also realised that like me, many individuals might have gone through the same trauma.”
Pyari Mona, directed by Ali Hasan, also stars Adeel Hussain, Sabeeka Imam, Mashal Khan and Adnan Jaffar in prominent roles.
