Masaba Gupta Wanted To Be An Actress Was Told It Required A Certain 'Body' Says, 'Top Roles Are Still Reserved For Only Some'

Fashion designer Masaba Gupta has opened up about body shaming and how she was treated differently because she looked a certain way. Masaba who wanted to be an actor just like her mother Neena Gupta looked at other career options after she was told actresses need to look a certain way and finally came to accept herself as a designer.

At 31, Masaba is one of the most successful names in the fashion industry and her brand often dresses some of the biggest names in the film business. In a chat with Cosmopolitan, Masaba spoke about how she was always treated differently because of her body type, even in school and she once thought she is incapable of finding a man who’d love her until she got married four years ago.

Masaba was also asked in the interview how she felt after she was told casually that being an actor required a certain ‘body’. She explained in her reply, “I just don’t pay any heed! All of us have our own defence mechanisms, and mine is to not mull over things that are not important. So even at that time, I just moved on, and was like, ‘It’s okay, I’ll pursue something else’.”

 However, the designer also stated that she didn’t choose her career based on rejection. She says, “Although I only made peace with it after I became successful as a fashion designer. But I hadn’t ‘decided’ to get into another career to prove a point, like ‘Oh I’m going to show these people’. Also, ‘courage’ sometimes can be highly overrated...accepting yourself can take years, even decades! And no matter how many conversations we have about inclusivity and body positivity, I know for a fact that even in Bollywood, top roles are still reserved for only some and not the others.”