Esha Deol talked about how she was body-shamed for her baby fat after her debut film and constantly compared to her mother, veteran actress Hema Malini.
When Esha Deol made her Bollywood debut with Aftab Shivdasani-starrer Koi Mere Dil Se Poocche in 2002, all eyes were towards her as she is the daughter of legendary actors, Dharmendra and Hema Malini. The film failed to make a mark at the box office, but Esha had a bigger battle in store for her.
Recently in a chat with Zoom, Esha recalled how after the release of her first film, she was affected by the constant comparison with her mother who had worked in over 200 films.
The ‘Kaal’ actress shared, “The pressure pump started after the films were released and things were written. Then I was like, they are comparing me in my first film to my mother, who has done 200 films. And they would say a lot about my baby fat. ‘Oh, she has so much baby fat’. I had, I was 18, those cheeks were there. But they looked cute in those roles, the kind of roles that I did, I thought they looked nice.”
Esha admitted that she was ‘overwhelmed’ by the criticism and the harsh comments, and turned towards her actress-mother for advice.
“I had a chat with my mom. I told her that I am getting a little overwhelmed, and these things are being written. I don’t know how to handle it, but it’s affecting me. Then she said, ‘Why are you here?’ I said I have always wanted to join movies and act, and this is something I have been wanting to do since I was a kid. She said, ‘Just focus on the goal. This is going to be part of it, you are my daughter, there is going to be constant comparisons. If you are going to let it affect you, then you are in the wrong profession. If you can handle it, then continue.’ So that was a golden tip that I got,” the actress told the publication.
Yash Chopra’s 2004 action film, Dhoom brought Esha Deol into the limelight. However, her subsequent films struggled to leave a mark. After taking a break, the actress made her comeback with her short film, Ek Duaa. She later starred in Ajay Devgn’s web debut, Rudra: The Edge Of Darkness and Suniel Shetty’s web series, Hunter Tootega Nahi Todega.
