Actor-comedian Bharti Singh is a household name on TV shows like ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’ and ‘The Great Indian Laughter Challenge’. She recently revealed that she was a rifle shooter and archer in college and even competed at the national level 12 years ago. She also opened up on the financial hardships her family faced before she entered the entertainment industry.
As per a report in HT, she recalled that she got into college under sports quota, “Now even I laugh when someone says this. Have you seen a fat girl lifting a rifle and taking aims? Athletes are slim and trim, seen in tracksuits. Yes, but it is true. I used to be a rifle shooter and even competed at the national level 12 years ago. I have represented Punjab in Pune.”
She continued, “We used to get free food from the government. I also got ₹15 per day. They used to give us three coupons of ₹5 each and we could get a glass of juice with one coupon. You won’t believe, I used to have one glass of juice, just to ensure I have energy to stand there for hours and practise rifle shooting. The rest, I would save. At the end of the month, I used to get fruits and juices in exchange for those coupons and take them home. I could hardly swallow that one glass of juice, daily. It felt like Diwali, the fruits would be all placed and everyone circled around waiting for one piece of fruit.”
She further talked about how, as a child, she witnessed her 24-year-old mother go through tough times, HT reports. She said, “I have seen how the shopkeepers used to come home to demand payback of their loans. They would hold my mother’s hands. I did not understand then that they were misbehaving with her. They used to hold her hands, someone even put a hand on her shoulders once. She said ‘aren’t you ashamed, I have kids, my husband is no more and this is how you behave?'”
She also shared her bad experiences in the entertainment industry when she faced unwanted advances from men, but unfortunately couldn’t muster the courage to fight back. She said, “The coordinators (of events) sometimes misbehaved. They would rub their hands on the back. I would know it’s not a good feeling, but then also think that he’s like my uncle, he can’t be bad. Maybe I am wrong and he is right. So I thought this doesn’t feel right. I had no understanding. I have the confidence to fight now. I can now say ‘what is the matter, what are you looking at, go out we are changing now’. I can speak up now, but I had no courage back then.”
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