When actor Varun Dhawan entered wedlock with his school sweetheart Natasha Dalal, wishes poured in from various walks of life.
However, Shraddha Srinath’s quirky wish for the couple has gone viral. The ‘Vikram Vedha’ and ‘Maara’ actress batted for breaking the patriarchal norms of society in the most subtle way.
“Another good actor bites the dust. Sad that we will not see him on screen again. Obviously, his wife and in-laws will not be okay with him acting with other heroines. Maybe he will switch to doing male-oriented films? But how to balance personal life and work-life ya. Tough. Will miss him. Congratulations though, Varun,” she posted on Instagram.
Despite the entertainment industry being considered progressive, many a time it is expected that female actors will stop acting post-marriage, and even though a few tend to not follow the trend, offers start falling short due to various reasons.
And Shraddha Srinath’s recent post has helped to shed some light upon the same fact. For long, detractors have claimed women actors come with a shelf-life. It was earlier believed that even top female actors would lose their desirability factor soon after getting married. So Shraddha used humour to put the spotlight on this regressive view of society while wishing the newlyweds.
However, as Shraddha’s post irked a few, she went on to clarify it and posted. “I took a jibe at patriarchy yesterday. I merely switched genders. And it sounded like a joke right?
It sounded absurd to you all when I said an actor will have to retire from work because he’s getting married. Why doesn’t it sound just as absurd when the same assumptions are made about an actress?”
The cinema industry is extremely competitive and given that most heroines are objectified on screen, families usually lay down a condition that a woman actor must give up her career once she is married.
A decade ago, a woman actor would be hesitant to even reveal that she was in a committed relationship because people in the industry would assume that she’s ready to walk down the aisle.
Even heroines who are top of their game are no exception to this patriarchal norms of society.
When Samantha announced that she was getting married to Naga Chaitanya, she said that film offers began to dry up because producers and directors assumed that she would stop acting after marriage. Recently, when actor Kajal Aggarwal said that she was getting married to her boyfriend Gautam Kitchlu, she added that she would continue to act, anticipating that the question would be put to her.
Actor Sayyeshaa, who got married to actor Arya, also had to clarify that she would continue to act in films after the wedding.
Several Bollywood women actors have continued to act after marriage. While it’s less common in the south, many more leading ladies are making the choice to not let their personal lives interfere with their film careers. Some like Manju Warrier and Jyothika have made strong comebacks.
