As Sonam Kapoor Says, Please Stop Treating Married Actresses Differently

It's 2018, and yet, one of the questions we're obsessively preoccupied with when it comes to Bollywood's leading ladies is, no, not their career goals or world domination plans, but when they plan to tie the knot with their beaus. Soon after the furore over Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli's (somewhat) secret nuptials died down, Twitter started buzzing with longing conjecture about Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh's plans to get hitched. On the heels of Deepika and Ranveer came Sonam and rumoured (why won't they just admit they're dating so the 'rumoured' overkill can stop?) boyfriend Anand Ahuja's supposed March wedding plans. While we're all for romantic "I dos" and secret or not-so-secret weddings, grand receptions and seriously drool-worthy trousseaus, there's a limit to how much actresses can be, or should be, doggedly asked about their wedding plans. As prolific women in the very visible world of Bollywood, there's so much more to talk about than the men in their lives.

Sonam Kapoor, for one, seems to have had enough of intrusive wedding-related chatter and questions, directed especially towards the women in Bollywood. Recently, when she was asked about the marriage rumours in an interview with mid-day, she responded with, "Why are actresses asked more about their personal lives? Is anyone asking Ranbir Kapoor or Ranveer Singh when they are getting married?"

In another interaction with news agency IANS, Sonam spoke about how it was high time people started thinking of actresses outside of the prism of weddings and babies, and allow their attitude towards married actresses to evolve to keep up with the times. "I will start talking about it (personal life) when the media will start asking the same questions to all the male actors in our industry - about how they will take up their career after marriage, when will they make a comeback after the birth of their baby... This whole attitude towards married actress should be changed," she said.

We couldn't agree more. If marriage is an equal partnership and parenting is a whole-hearted commitment, how come the husbands and dads in these relationships aren't being put through the same litmus test as the wives and mothers? Do we detect the pervasive waft of sexism emanating from these questions? We most certainly do.

So, taking up from where Sonam left off, about women being as capable of kicking a** after marriage, as before it, here are 5 Bollywood actresses who are living, breathing examples of not allowing marriage, or society, to declare pack-up time on their dream careers.

Anushka Sharma

If there is one woman in Bollywood who seems to be living life entirely on her terms, it's Anushka Sharma. Less than a month after tying the knot with one of India's most eligible bachelors, Virat Kohli, Anushka was back to work and business, shooting for Zero with Shah Rukh Khan and Katrina Kaif in Mumbai. She will also soon be seen in Raj Kumar Hirani's Sanju, Prosit Roy's Pari and YRF's Sui Dhaaga. Not to mention her own production company Clean Slate Films, her signature fashion label 'Nush' and her many endorsement deals.

Kareena Kapoor

Anyone with any doubts about the direction in which Bollywood's Bebo's life was headed, post marriage, was suitably silenced when the heavily pregnant Kareena walked the ramp for Sabyasachi in 2016 for the Lakme Fashion Week. If that wasn't all, within 45 days of delivery, she was back on the Lakme fashion week runway, this time for Anita Dongre. As Kareena gears up for the release of Veere Di Wedding with Sonam Kapoor this year, looking as fit and fabulous as ever before (have you seen her photos, lately?), we have no doubts that we'll be seeing a lot more of her in the coming years, baby Taimur Ali Khan in tow.

 

Vidya Balan

She got married in 2012, and some of Vidya's most powerful performances have been in the last five years. Tumhaari Sulu, Kahaani 2, Te3n, were all treats for fans of her acting in the last couple of years. To add more feathers to her already overcrowded cap, she was appointed to the CBFC in 2017, served as the grand marshal of the Indian Day Parade in New York City in 2013 and was awarded the Padma Shri in 2014.

 

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Every notion of married women "looking a certain way" has been dispelled by Aishwarya time and time again with her regular appearances at Cannes. She's been married for 11 years now, and has given some memorable performances in the time - from the demure queen in Jodha Akbar to firebrand mother in Jazbaa, the sultry seductress in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and the woman in search of justice in Sarbjit, she's done it all. Oh, and she's also a goodwill ambassador for the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS).

 

Konkona Sen Sharma

We may not have seen too much of Konkona in mainstream Hindi films after her marriage in 2010 and subsequent separation in 2015, but the lady's been busier than ever. She's made 19 films in the last eight years, most of them in Bengali, apart from giving birth to her son Haroon in 2011.Her directorial debut, A Death In The Gunj, won her rave reviews and several awards last year, not to mention her stellar performance in the controversial Lipstick Under My Burkha.

 

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