Actress Gouri Kishan, in an exclusive interview with NDTV, broke her silence on the fat-shaming row. She said, "Can't take it as a joke. There was no respect. Some feel entitled to pass on such comments about somebody."
Background
Gouri Kishan took on a journalist in Chennai for body shaming her during a film promotional event for the press on her film Others, by asking her about her body weight and referring to a scene in the film where the hero lifts her.
Even as journalists ganged up against her, Gouri stood her ground, calling the question "stupid" and the attitude to justify the question "a disgrace" to the profession. "Don't normalise body shaming," she said.
Gouri also questioned would this question would be asked to the hero and why no questions were asked about her character.
Ironically, none of the members from the film's team came to her rescue. When there was an attempt to ask her to stop her objection, she said, "It's about me, shouldn't I have a perspective?".
Citing that she's the only woman in the hall, she asked why everyone shoots and is not respectful to a woman..She also asked, "Why are you all silencing me?".
Vocalist Chinmayi on X said, "Gowri did an amazing job. The moment you call out a disrespectful and an unnecessary question - a whole lot of shouting down happens. So proud that someone so young stood her ground and pushed back. No male actor gets asked what his weight is. No idea why they asked a female actor ".
Journalists are divided. Many blame it largely on YouTubers who deliberately look for sensationalism in an attempt to increase viewership and get the video go viral.
A journalist said, "Youtubers often don't have any mechanism to vet their questions. They are not accountable to anyone. They themselves report, edit and publish with no adherence to ethics".