Stree actor Flora Saini, who accused her live-in partner of perpetrating domestic violence during the #MeToo movement in 2018, joined Bigg Boss Telugu 9 on September 7. She is one of the 11 contestants who entered the house to win the coveted trophy.
When Flora Talked About Domestic Violence
Flora first spoke about her abusive live-in partner during the #MeToo movement in 2018. In 2022, during an interview with News18, she recalled the horror and compared her experience with the murder of Shraddha Walkar by her boyfriend in Delhi.
Flora moved in with her live-in partner, producer Gaurang Doshi, and cut off ties with her family as they did not approve of the relationship. "Your parents see the red flags. In Shraddha's case as well, the same happened. They first cut you out from your family. I also left my home, and within a week of moving in with him, I was being bashed up. I couldn't understand why he was beating me suddenly because, in my eyes, he was a really nice guy," Flora told News18.
"One night, he'd beaten me so badly that I had a fractured jaw. He took his father's picture and warned me, saying, ‘I swear on my father that I will kill you tonight.' When he turned back to put the photo frame away, in that fraction of a second, my mom's voice echoed in my ears that at such a moment you will have to run — bas bhaag, mat soch ki kapde pehne hai ya nahi, paise hain ya nahi, bas bhaag (run and don't think if you have clothes on or not, if you have money or not, just run for your life). I ran to my home and decided I would never go back," Flora said in the same interview.
The actor said she, along with her family, went to the police station to file a complaint against her ex the next day. Flora said the police initially refused to file her complaint and were even talking to her ex on the phone, telling him that she had come to file a complaint. She was ultimately able to file a handwritten complaint.
Flora's Work
A popular face in South Indian cinema, Flora has appeared in Hindi films such as Love In Nepal, Dabangg 2, Lakshmi, and Dhanak. She shot to fame for playing a ghost in Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor's Stree (2018).