Nithya Menen Exclusive: I heard a lot about body and curly hair, why are women given second status?

How was the experience of working in Mission Mangal in Hindi? Have you heard that the South Industry is more strict and professional than Hindi cinema?
-I also found the people here to be very professional. I really enjoyed working in Mission Mangal. There were many big actors in the film like Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan, Sonakshi Sinha and it was a lot of fun working with everyone. We all lived together during the shooting. We all would have breakfast, lunch and dinner together. Everyone encouraged each other.

You have had the honor of receiving many Filmfare and big awards including the National Award, but when did you feel inferior being a girl?
-I think we always feel that humiliation. But I think the situation in the entertainment industry is better in this matter. Here we are given value. However, patriarchal thinking is deeply ingrained in our society, so in a way we have to accept it first, only then we can think why it is so and what should be done about it? We see that everywhere there is a male dominated society. The name of the man is first in the wedding card, the name of the hero is first in the numbering of films, the same is the name on the name plate of the house, then why is it always the case that the status of women will be secondary. Why can’t it be the other way around, then one feels inferior. But now when I meet many people, I feel that they are not gender biased. I think change is happening, albeit slowly. We just have to keep trying to bring about change for the next generation of women.

Have you ever faced body shaming because of your physicality?
-When you don’t fit a certain size on their scale, then you have to listen. When my body was talked about, I felt that these people were talking as if I had no existence other than my body, so am I just a body? Please don’t limit me to just my body. Then I thought a lot. I felt that I don’t have to suffer from inferiority complex. You can talk about my creativity, hard work and other aspects of my personality. Not only my body, a lot was said about my curly hair too, why are they so curly? Straighten them. Why are the eyebrows so thick, thin them out. Now I see that people pay money to get their hair curled.

When my body was talked about, I felt that these people were talking as if I had no existence other than my body, so am I just a body?

Nithya Menon

How important is family to you?
-Very. I am the only daughter of the family. There are three of us in the house, mom, dad and me. The three of us are like one unit. We are very close to each other. We fight, we love, our bond is strong. Due to my hectic shooting schedule, I am not able to go home much, but whenever I get a chance, I love spending time with my family. My entire family lives in Bengaluru. I take full care of my family and parents.

Social media has become very important these days, but how do you handle trolls?
-he/she has to be handled. You always have to be cautious on your social media. Generally we get only positive comments, but sometimes there is one or two negative comments, then it hurts our heart. I have a friend, she says, remove the negative comments and look at the thousands of other comments and be happy. I follow the same method.

What would you like to say about Pap culture? -Sometimes it becomes too much. That means it seems that there is no sensitivity left. There has been a death in someone’s house, but they have to take out the photos, at such a time it seems that humanity has become zero and money is necessary. When celebs are going through difficulties, it is important to understand that they are also human and how they might be feeling.