Kiara Advani has addressed the criticism surrounding her intimate scenes with Yash in Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups. During her appearance on Koffee With Karan, Kiara revealed that while people questioned her choices because she is married and a mother, her husband, Sidharth Malhotra, was unbothered by the controversy.
In the episode, host Karan Johar highlighted the obvious gender bias in the criticism, pointing out that married male actors are rarely questioned in the same way for performing intimate scenes. “He had not cared about it. He has never brought it up. We have never spoken about it. It did not affect him; he was not bothered,” Kiara shared, referring to Sidharth's reaction to the intimate scenes.
She also pointed out that this was hardly a new experience for women in the film industry. “It has been happening now for donkey years, for decades. From Aishwarya to so many wonderful actors,” she added.
The actor further revealed that she did not feel the need to defend herself when the controversy was unfolding. "What I must touch upon is when I was seeing what was going on the internet, there was a massive reaction of people who had already started calling it out, the hypocrisy, and I really did not feel the need to even justify," she said.
The controversy erupted following the release of the song Tabaahi, in which Kiara performed intimate scenes with Yash. Following the release, Kiara faced personal attacks for the scenes, with several social media users questioning her choices.
Directed by Geetu Mohandas, Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups is a gangster drama that follows a world shaped by crime, violence, and shifting loyalties. Alongside Yash and Kiara, the film also starred Tara Sutaria, Nayanthara, and Rukmini Vasanth in other prominent roles.
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