Mahira Khan was trolled for similar pictures on social media (courtesy ranbirkapoorfanclup)
Highlights
- "I know all these things," said Zarine Khan
- Mahira Khan was trolled for smoking, as seen in the pictures
- She is rumoured to be dating Ranbir Kapoor
Zarine Khan is known to have written powerful posts on body-shaming and addressing the issue of being trolled and shamed on social media in frequent interviews. Recently,
Pakistani actress Mahira Khan was ruthlessly trolled after certain pictures of hers with Ranbir Kapoor went crazy viral on the Internet. Haters decided to troll Mahira, a Pakistani actress, for smoking and wearing a short dress, as seen in the pictures. Zarine Khan reacted to the insensitive trolling in her interview to
Indian Express, saying she can very well relate to it. "Oh, she is a girl, she is wearing a short dress and she is a Muslim, she is from Pakistan. I know all these things," she said in the interview.
Zarine sort of decoded the logic behind unwelcome negative criticism, saying the primary aim of the trolls is to make the target "feel bad": "Everybody has an opinion, everyone behaves as if they are out to take over the world and correct the world, they give out these statements thinking this is how they are contributing to correcting the world by catching hold of a particular human being and trying to make them feel bad." Last year, she was asked if social media trolls affect her, when she told news agency IANS: "Never have. Never will. Everyone is not going to like me and I'm okay with that."
Zarine had solidified her position on the trends list last year after she Instagrammed pictures of her heavier self from when she was a school student and opened up about being body-shamed.
Ranbir Kapoor and Mahira Khan attended the Global Teacher Prize event in March together, since when dating rumours about the two kept the gossip mills occupied. In a statement issued recently,
Ranbir reacted to the controversy, saying: "I've gotten to know Mahira in a personal capacity over the last few months. She is somebody who I admire and respect, for her achievements and even more for the person she is. It is very unfair the way she is being judged and spoken about. What is also sad is the inequality in judgment just because she is a woman. I request you to stop the negativity and move on with your beautiful god gifted lives. Peace and love. PS: Both smoking and hate are injurious to health." In the viral pictures, Ranbir and Mahira can be seen smoking outside a New York restaurant.
However, Zarine is not the only celebrity who has reacted to the snowballed controversy over the viral Mahira-Ranbir pictures.
Ranbir's father Rishi Kapoor told
Hindustan Times: "He could have met her just outside there. They must have been in a restaurant or a place where they cannot smoke, that's why they are smoking outside. In US, they have really strict rules that don't allow smoking in public places. I can't say anything more because I don't know anything more than that."
Support in favour of Mahira Khan also poured in from several Pakistani celebrities like Ali Zafar, Momina Mustehsan, Humaima Malik and Osman Khalid Butt.
Parineeti Chopra could only tag the trolling as 'unfair': "I'll just say one line. It's a little unfair. Everybody knows it's unfair and it'll stop. Today, because of social media, everything becomes too big a deal," she said at the trailer launch of
Golmaal Again, reported PTI. "Shame on them for shaming her," added Varun Dhawan.
Mahira Khan made her Bollywood debut with Shah Rukh Khan's
Raees, ahead of which she remained widely popular for her Pakistani TV show
Humsafar. Ranbir Kapoor was last seen in
Jagga Jasoos while
Raees remains Mahira's only Bollywood project so far.