For some weeks now, Esha Gupta’s been under the weather. When t2 met the actress in the office of Baadshaho producer T-Series in Mumbai’s Andheri (West), Esha was running a fever and a cold, but was determined not to take antibiotics. “I don’t like medicines but this morning when I woke up, my team told me that I looked like death warmed over. Maybe I should just give in and have a medicine,” she says, while sipping on hot water. The constant travel for the promotions of Baadshaho (now playing in theatres) is not helping either. Once she had switched off the air-conditioner in the room, Esha talked about the film, the controversy around the semi-nude pictures she’s posted on Instagram. [Her Baadshaho co-star Emraan Hashmi also made an interesting cameo during our chat!]
I have to start with the pictures you’ve posted on Instagram. Tell us about the photoshoot that’s created such a stir....
Honestly, I don’t get what the big deal is. I have seen some of the biggest actresses and models in the world do photoshoots like this. These pictures were shot in my house and I think they are gorgeous. They are sexy but tasteful.
When you posted them online, you must have known that there would be a reaction?
Of course, but I didn’t expect such a backlash. If you read the comments, they are nasty. I believe the men who are viciously attacking me online are doing so because their manhood has been challenged. They can’t believe that an Indian woman would be this bold and confident. These are the same men who would watch porn with white girls or ogle at foreigners in a bikini. The women who are attacking me are the kinds who would call promiscuous women sluts but a promiscuous man, for them, is a stud.
My biggest surprise is that this has become a national headline. It’s 2017! We have bigger issues to deal with but people are more interested in talking about a woman’s freedom to do what she wants with her body. We need to focus more on the threat of war, climate change, infrastructure, and women’s safety… anything but Esha Gupta’s body!
There were people who said I am spoiling the image of India and others who said I am promoting rape. It’s just all so ridiculous. How does a woman wearing a sari or a burkha provoke rape? What has a three-year-old child done to provoke rape? It’s very easy to say that item songs or photos provoke rape but that’s all rubbish. It’s people’s mentality that makes them ill-treat women.
The only comment that really pissed me off was someone who said, ‘She is not Indian’. I was like, ‘I am more Indian than most of you put together’. I represented India on the world stage in the Miss International pageant. My father is a fauji and he has served the nation. What have you done apart from anonymously trolling people online?
This is indicative of the kind of trolling that women across the world face online everyday...
Yes… and even when I am talking about things that are happening in the world, trolls call me names. I had once tweeted that cows are safer than women in this country and trolls started abusing me. I was called unpatriotic and anti-Hindu. But I didn’t care. Women’s safety is an issue that really bothers me. I believe that if as a celebrity, I have a platform to talk to a large group of people, I would much rather say something meaningful than just promote myself.
All this chatter around these pictures reminded me of the ‘Free The Nipple’ campaign and how it’s okay for men to post shirtless pictures but not for women.
Absolutely. Men are showing their nipples all over the place but they get uncomfortable when women do the same thing. Forget being shirtless, men wear those ugly see-through shirts where you can see their nipples or they leave buttons open. So their cleavage is fine but ours is not? I am not saying I want to show anything, but it’s my body and I should have the freedom to if I want to!
Is there a fine line between objectification and self-promotion?
As women, we are objectified, no matter what. If you are fully covered, they call you a behenji. If you show skin, you are a slut. Men are so quick to label us.
What does the tattoo on your back say?
It’s the Latin phrase ‘Alis volat propriis’ which means ‘She flies with her own wings’. I think it fits me to the T.
[Her Baadshaho co-star Emraan Hashmi pops in to say bye to Esha. “How are you not eating right now?” he asks her with a laugh. He explains to me, “Esha eats every 20 minutes. Throughout the shoot all she’s done is eat.” After Emraan leaves, Esha tells me, “They made so much fun of me and my eating habits. One day, Emi actually asked where all the food goes! He asked, ‘Do you poop or vomit it out?’ I couldn’t believe he asked me that! Ajay (Devgn) and Milan Sir (Luthria, the film’s director) sat there waiting to know the answer. I told them, ‘I am not discussing my digestive system with you’!]
This is my cue to ask you about Baadshaho. What got you interested?
Milan Luthria. Taxi 9211 was such a cool film. He’s always been on my list of directors I wanted to work with. When I first spoke with Milan Sir, by the time the call ended, I knew that I was going to do the film. I didn’t care what the script was. I just wanted to work with Milan Sir. Then we met and he narrated the film and told me about my character Sanjana and I liked her. He says that when he met me, he immediately knew that I was his Sanjana.
You’ve done quite a few multi-starrers. Is there ever a worry of being overshadowed by your co-stars?
I have never thought of that. All Milan Luthria fims have been multi-starrers and every single character is important. He does justice to every character. Also, as an actor if you can be confident about what you are signed on to do, you don’t really bother about anyone else.
Karishma Upadhyay
