Indian actress and former beauty queen, who is in Dubai this week to promote a jewellery brand, claims that actors are increasingly becoming soft targets in India.
Full Article here: https://gulfnews.com/1.74374762
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00:00I love Alia as an actor but my film Virgin Vanapriya was rated more higher on IMDb and
00:05user reviews also better than Zalak 2 or like you know Khaali Peeli which just came out
00:10yeah Virgin Vanapriya was a lot better than that but I want to say a lot has to do with the kind of
00:15media also kind of you know put the star kids in up in that level or elevate them
00:22they kind of always appreciate their fashion sense they kind of always appreciate their acting
00:26performances they never find anything negative about star kids they kind of just compliment
00:32them again and again and again and again again this is Manjusha Radhakrishnan from Gulf News
00:41tabloid and I'm here with the gorgeous Bollywood actress Urvashi Rotela she is at the Versace Dubai
00:47to launch their designer collection in jewelry perhaps she can tell us more about it so we talk
00:53about Bollywood today surviving in the post-covid era and lots more thank you so much for having us
00:59here during post-covid times it's difficult we are here we are so far away now but you can tell
01:06me like what brings you to Dubai I mean first of all it's a very good feeling obviously for me
01:11also to be here you know it's been like over like six seven months that I didn't travel abroad
01:19obviously no one did right of course Urvashi it's been such an uncertain time for all actors in
01:24general don't you think I mean with the post-covid no movies releasing now the
01:27theatres in India are open which is a great thing finally there's some movement but as an actor
01:33how have you survived this and what kind of fears do you have for me it is not just about acting
01:39my the things which I do are so much more different like I'm a humanitarian I have my own
01:44foundation there are so many brands which I endorse I have been a supermodel so the avenues
01:52are kind of like 360 degree open I'm not just like an actor actor or like I sing as well I do so many
01:58performances so I would say for me the avenues were a lot oh fantastic Urvashi I know you are
02:05like a breath of fresh air actually in Bollywood which is now the most tainted industry I feel
02:10people talk about it and there's so much of surround noise
02:15how do you as an outsider process all that noise that's around you
02:21see right now I feel that yes there was a kind of you know all this negativity and all and that's
02:28why also and also there is a renovation also happening in my house so my parents only kind of
02:32they sent me that you need that break you know you just go from India but yes Mumbai
02:39I will always love Mumbai has given me my name my identity it's always going to be my I worship
02:46Mumbai Devi Mumbai has given me everything I can never ever talk anything I can't even think of
02:54talking anything against Bollywood or you know Mumbai for me it holds a deep regard and deep
03:01respect in my heart so whatever is happening I think it's quite unfortunate because it was all
03:07about I don't know because I think I'd rather want politicians to talk about our Indian economy
03:14which has gone fallen down terribly why are they talking about Bollywood the work of politicians
03:21is to think about how we can grow as a country how can we grow as a nation how can we think
03:26about the economy about the you know people's needs it's their job is not to get into Bollywood
03:34it's a very creative space so why the entire news channels everything again I'm not saying
03:40anything wrong cast news but I am somehow not comfortable with watching always like you know
03:45Bollywood news or something you know thrashing this or that and exposing them I think Bollywood
03:50now has become a very soft target and and there are very important topics definitely which we
03:57talked about right in our Indian news channels which they are kind of not talking about and
04:03that's not okay with me because I think we should also be concerned about a lot more important
04:08topics we should not be concerned about the small petty topics like the I mean what do I say like
04:15drugs or something why aren't they catching the drug peddlers that's what I want to say okay so
04:19you think the big issue is not the stars I never said that I am completely against of stars having
04:25it but I say that if they are covering that they should also cover the other important aspects
04:31Urvashi I know you are an outsider and there's this whole debate about outsiders being mistreated
04:36in Bollywood there's a camp have you been facing the brunt of like cyclics and how difficult was
04:43it to get into Bollywood and be taken seriously okay so I think initially for a beat anyone you
04:49know you will not be taken seriously and you should put that on a t-shirt yeah exactly you
04:55will not be taken seriously no matter how hard any debutant want to work I can write them in
05:02paper you will not be taken seriously by the until unless you know it takes like a lot of films you
05:09just can't prove yourself in just like one film you will have to do at least minimum 10-15 films
05:13if your performance is as good and if your work ethic is super extreme professionalism
05:19then you will earn it by with time you will get it are you following the Sushant Singh Rajput
05:24case that has caught the public imagination and fantasy of so many there's so much of
05:29public anger as well about actors taking extreme steps I think I kind of do relate with him
05:39in a way like he was an outsider he did his engineering and everything I was following
05:46it to a point but when I started shooting obviously I couldn't get hold of what was
05:50happening exactly and and then I'm also like he should I trust this news or should I not trust
05:54this news because there's also a lot of made-up fabricated news as well and then there came a
06:00point where I was so I was like I stopped reading news channels there was a time and there was also
06:07a time when I was non-stop watching news non-stop watching what is happening happening happening and
06:12but that it went on for really a couple of like three four five months yes and June yes six
06:19since June that's what you know it's been happening and then new people coming up and
06:25sometimes conspiracy this and that and when getting targeted and then I was like
06:33it's better like till when I mean whenever the the result has to come like what would
06:39in the forensic report that it was death by suicide according to their findings
06:46yeah so that's the latest yeah that's what they say but in your case are you worried as well like
06:53do you guys get you know when you read such negative news as well does your did your parents
06:58come up to you and say that even if things don't work out it's okay we are there there's a lot of
07:02mental health issues that you should worry about see right now I'll tell you very honestly the
07:06dynamics of Bollywood have completely changed because of 2020 because of COVID I mean again
07:13I'm not comparing I love Alia as an actor but my film Virgin Vanapriya was rated more higher on
07:19IMDb and user reviews also better than Salak 2 or like you know Khaali Peeli which just came out
07:24yeah Virgin Vanapriya was a lot better than that but I want to say a lot has to do with the kind of
07:29media also kind of you know put the star kids in up in that level or elevate them
07:37they kind of always appreciate their fashion sense they kind of always appreciate their
07:40acting performances they never find anything negative about star kids they kind of just
07:46compliment them again and again and again and again and no matter even if an outsider
07:52um has done even much better than them they will be targeted for a even a small petty thing
07:59whichever goes wrong or even if when whenever there is nothing wrong still they will be
08:04yeah you know uh treated as like an object so that they can get um like um um you know they can
08:11talk bad about uh the outsiders um so that you know there is a lot of TRP and all so you will
08:18never ever see like a bad news about a star kid yeah um so I think a lot has to do with the
08:24media as well okay how we perceive exactly initially initially there were so many false
08:30allegations for me that I'm calling up Hrithik at 4 a.m 2 a.m and why are you calling me yeah
08:35exactly I'm sorry I skipped that so I'll tell you because Sushant I'm just coming up with all these
08:40news articles and then uh obviously I was naive and I was like why the hell I mean you know I
08:47love Hrithik Roshan but I don't want for Kabul you had worked yes I remember the song I love
08:51Hrithik Roshan but that's my respect for him that doesn't mean that I have a love love anger with
08:56him or I want to get married to him it is not like that kind of love okay so these gossip pieces and
09:01all that hurt you at some point is yes of course because you're sensitive to that yes exactly and
09:05my my PR team at that time advised me not to speak about it okay I and so the allegations
09:11was that you called up yeah at 3 a.m and 4 a.m and why will I call and and the thing is that
09:16I wake up every morning 6 a.m and I go to bed by 11 p.m where do I have get uh where do I have
09:21time to call someone so you didn't put out a statement then is it I didn't because I was
09:25advised when we are team do not uh you know uh there's no point seeing something like this but
09:30then obviously there will be a lot of people or members of media or members of industry that they
09:35will think that I actually called up which is not true okay so um sometimes that can be you know
09:40that can affect your mental state I think that also might have happened with Sushant and yeah I
09:44firmly believe that that kind of article will never ever come for any star kid it will always
09:50be written because they will call you out yeah exactly so so so I think the media is also a
09:56problem I like to post on Gandhi Jayanti about safety of women and you were like how strong you
10:00stood up for the women exactly now there's a lot of like violence against women in India we are
10:05talking about it what was your take on being a woman in India um I would just want to say one
10:10thing small thing you know because there's already so much we've talked about it I would just want
10:14to say that uh people are saying
10:20right
10:37very true enough yeah that's what I believe in and also they say
10:40so
10:43but my main point is that uh why don't they don't tell their uh sons teach their son not to
10:50rape exactly why don't they teach their son to educate themselves or just like you know
10:57just tell them the what is right or what is not I think as a parent they can do that of course
11:01why do they have to always tell the girl
11:04the onus is not on the girl to not step out exactly exactly and I believe in
11:09empowered women I think a woman who is very strong independent uh completely is a very
11:15attractive woman and I think um I like those kind of women which kind of intimidate some men
11:21I think that's amazing that's good and it's very important for a female to be financially
11:26independent and independent with her own thoughts I'm not saying like in other way in a bad way
11:31but in a good way you should always be um I would say like self-sufficient
11:39okay man oh that's nice brilliant thank you so much for talking to us we covered quite a lot of
11:44breadth yes and I'm so happy you're in Dubai please keep coming back yeah thank you so much