: Being an actor ( Shivangi ), although it has its many perks, comes with various hurdles — an universally faced one being scrutinized for your Body. When you’re under the public’s sharp eyes at all times, even a kilogram lost or Gained is noticed and commented on. In actress Shivangi Verma’s case, she had to gain nearly 10kgs for a South project for the movie Pichaikkaran 2 in a song Nana Bulukushe was working on alongside Vijay Antony. She played the role of a belly dancer from Dubai — the project required her to have a healthier belly as it would suit enhance her role and appease the South audience. She gained weight by eating Mumbai’s famous and iconic street food, including Vada Pav, Missal Pav, Dabeli, Pav Bhaji, and Aloo Parathas loaded with butter.

She says, “It was really easy for me to gain weight as I ate a carefully curated diet designed for that. I was given about a month to gain weight as the project had been slightly delayed. I was extremely determined to do this properly, especially since I had gotten the opportunity to work with the talented Vijay Anthony — it was a dream come true! I know there is a lot of pressure on me, especially as a woman in the showbiz industry, to maintain the perfect hourglass figure but I don’t feel ashamed as I gained weight for my work. Vijar sir liked my work in the project and he appreciated my effort — that’s what matters to me. Even Aamir Khan gained weight for ‘Dangal’ and so did Salman Khan for ‘Sultan’. Trollers will continue to troll but I love myself nonetheless. Things like this come and go.”

When asked about any side effects she faced after gaining the weight, she commented, “While of course, there were some physical effects, what was impacted the most for me was my mental health. I was trolled so heavily on social media and called fat in every other comment. I felt really hurt by this. It’s very upsetting that my whole comment section is filled with ruthless criticism — all because I gained a couple of kilos for a project. What I have experienced and even am experiencing right now is a classic, textbook example of body shaming. I think it is a horrible thing to do and nobody should have the right to make another person feel this way. Being fat is not something to be sad about, yes of course in certain situations there are health concerns but that doesn’t mean they deserve to be treated like this.”

Now that the project is over, Shivangi is working tirelessly to lose the excess weight in a healthy manner. She doesn’t want to go on a crash diet as those are known to have dire effects on one’s health and usually result in only temporary weight loss. When asked about her weight-loss process, she says, “I have my own team — my workout coach and my dietitian — who also helped me gain weight and are now helping me lose it. I don’t want to go into a very strict routine because I still want to enjoy my chole bhature…just not everyday. The progress is slow but I am happy with how it’s going.”

She adds, “While gaining weight was very easy for me, losing weight is just as hard. But now I want my body to go back to the way it was — I used to weigh around 56kgs but now I weigh 64-65kgs. While I am noticing some inch loss, I haven’t managed to lose much actual weight which is why I am doing some intense workouts. It is not very fun…losing weight is difficult but I’m trying my best to stick to the plan and stay positive.”

When asked about how this has affected her auditions, she adds, “I have not been skipping auditions. If one comes my way, I give it. You never know if they like me this way or not so I play around with costumes to alter my appearance subtly; In western looks, I wear a shrug and in Indian looks, I put on a dupatta. Previously, I have portrayed both positive and negative roles. Therefore, I am open to any kind of role currently as I want my work portfolio to be diverse and vibrant.”

In hard times, it is important to keep your spirits up and maintain your optimism. On this, Shivangi says, “It’s not easy to always remain positive…I do cry at times. It’s my family who never judges me and supports me morally and gives me a lot of motivation. I go to my mom to feel better and she is the best person for this. This situation has really hit me hard and I am not used to such an environment as I have seen people appreciating my posts, liking my content and giving me so much love but right now, it’s the complete opposite so it was difficult for me to digest.”

Actress Shivangi Verma’s experience with social media’s wrath should serve as a lesson for everybody to be more cautious when commenting on someone’s body. You never know what is going on behind the scenes and it is important to be considerate.

Shivangi has been part of tv shows like Choti Sarrdaarni, Reporters, Bhootu.