Pooja Batra revealed how her height cost her major Bollywood roles and forced her to do “half-splits” on set to make shorter heroes look taller.
In Bollywood, glamour often comes with hidden struggles, especially for tall actresses. In a recent interview, Pooja Batra, once a top model who turned to films, recalled how her height cost her many roles.
Before she became a household name with the 1997 hit Virasat co-starring Anil Kapoor, the actress received a blunt reality check from Sangeeta Bijlani. Pooja told Harper’s Bazaar India in a candid chat, “It was tough. I remember I was told by Sangeeta Bijlani, ‘You don’t have a chance in the movies because you’re too tall.”
The actress admitted that her stature cost her roles. “It’s true I didn’t book a lot of movies because of my height. I lost out on a lot of good roles,” she confessed. To compensate, she resorted to tricks- doing “half-splits” during close-ups, wearing color-coordinated outfits to appear shorter, and even relying on her personal wardrobe to style herself on screen.
Despite the compromises, she believes tall actresses like herself and Sangeeta paved the way for stars like Sushmita Sen and Deepika Padukone. “They should say, ‘Thank you,” she laughed.
While many actors struggled with her height, one co-star stood out—Salman Khan. Cast opposite him in Kahin Pyaar Na Ho Jaaye (2000), Pooja remembered his refreshing confidence. “Salman never had a problem. He was one guy who’d be like, ‘Wear your heels, I don’t have a problem.’ He’d be confident in his own skin,” she told the publication.
Pooja also credited technology for shifting perceptions. With cinemascope evolving to emphasize width over height, tall actors no longer appeared “too tall” on screen. Ironically, shorter actors risked looking broader. “Most of the world’s most famous actors aren’t very tall,” she reasoned, pointing out that the stigma around height has eased.
Her sense of style often carried into her films, with directors allowing her to wear her own clothes. But they insisted on minimal makeup. “I was like, at least sunblock toh lagane do (let me wear sunblock),” she joked.
On the work front, Pooja was last seen in Nilesh Sahay’s action thriller Squad (2021).
