Bollywood actor Sonakshi Sinha proved she can act when she made her acting debut with the action film ‘Dabangg’ in 2010. Then came ‘Rowdy Rathore’, ‘Son of Sardaar’, ‘Lootera’, and ‘Mission Mangal’, among others. And with each film, her roles became more powerful, important, and meatier.
However, as time passed by, people realized that films like ‘Rowdy Rathore’ were a bit sexist and had sleazy characters that objectified women – Sonakshi, in this case.
There was one specific scene in the film when that came out to be objectionable to many. In the scene, the hero of the film (played by Akshay Kumar) holds Sonakshi Sinha by her waist and says, “Ye mera maal hai”, declaring her as his property.
When during an interview with Film Companion, Anupama Chopra told Sonakshi that the hero calling her ‘mera maal’ was a deal breaker for her, Sonakshi said that she understands her emotions and wouldn’t do anything like that today.
“I was so young at that point in time that I was not thinking in this direction. For me, it was a fact that I am doing a film with Prabhu Deva. I am doing a film with Akshay Kumar, who would say no to something like that? Sanjay Leela Bhansali was producing it. Why would I say no? At that time, my thinking was very different.”
“Today, if I would read a scene like that, I would not do it. Also because I have garnered enough experience. I have matured as a person. I was 23-24 (back then). Things change with time, and so have I.”
The actress further divulged that it’s always the actor who is blamed for such roles and not the writers or filmmakers who put such scenes in the films.
“People used to always put the blame on me and the woman is always the villain in a situation like that. Nobody spoke about the writer who wrote the lines, nobody spoke about the person who directed the film. I was just like ‘s**t happens’.”
Maybe back then Sonakshi wasn’t in a place to be able to choose and reject films as it was the inception of her career. As she said, working with biggies like Akshay Kumar and Prabhu Deva was a big deal for her so things like these never crossed her mind.
Having said that, the onus is also on the filmmakers and the entire team who decided to put such an offensive scene in the movie. What do you think?