Vidya Balan has opened up on facing gender bias. She also recalled a dinner table incident where she was told that she ‘should know how to cook’.
National Award-winning actress Vidya Balan revealed she too has faced gender bias in her life. Gearing up for her first release of 2021, Sherni, on the OTT platform, in an interview with Times Now Digital, opened on facing gender bias. Balan also recalled an event that left her angry. The Shakuntala Devi actress states that all of us tend to judge each other, but it’s a little sharper with women in our society.
Speaking with a leading daily, Vidya Balan said, “I think all of us have faced gender bias and not just by the members of the opposite sex. Even i think we all tend to judge each other, box each other as human beings and it’s a little sharper for women or with women. Of course, I have faced gender bias. i get angry… i get angry and then I just give them a piece of my mind. It happens much less now, but still.”
Vidya also said, “I remember people telling me over a dinner that Oh my god, you don’t know how to cook. I said, ‘No both Sidharth and i don’t know how to cook’. They said, ‘But you should know how to cook na…I wanted to say (enacting a hitting scene) why should it be any different for Sidharth and me?” She also recollected when her mother would ask her to learn cooking. “I would say why the hell should I learn to cook, i will earn enough to hire a cook or marry a man who can cook,” she added.
Recalling the lockdown imposed in 2020, she revealed of trying her hands at cooking, but only to give rest to her domestic help, cooking thrice each day
Vidya has been vocal about the issues she has faced on numerous occasions. In March, in another interview with a leading daily, she had said, “My weight issue had become a national issue. I have always been a fat girl; I wouldn’t say that i’m at a stage where my fluctuating weight doesn’t bother me anymore at all. But I have come a long way. I have had hormonal issues all my life. For the longest time, I hated my body. i thought it had betrayed me. On the days i was under the pressure of looking my best, i would bloat up and i would be so angry and frustrated.”
Meanwhile, she will be seen next in Sherni, which is slated to release on June 18 on Amazon Prime Video. it’s directed by Amit Masurkar. Fans will see her as an upright forest officer named Vidya. The film will also star Sharad Saxena, Mukul Chaddha, Vijay Raaz, Ila Arun, Brijendra Kala and Neeraj Kabi.
