Star kids like Khushi Kapoor, Aaliyah Kashyap, Aalia Ebrahim and Krishna Shroff are taking on those who try to body shame them on social media — and seem to be dealing with the pitfalls of their early fame on platforms like Instagram very well
Star kids like Khushi Kapoor, Aaliyah Kashyap, Aalia Ebrahim and Krishna Shroff are taking on those who try to body shame them on social media — and seem to be dealing with the pitfalls of their early fame on platforms like Instagram very well
They’re famous for being the offspring of famous parents, but star kids like Khushi and Jhanvi Kapoor (Boney Kapoor and Sridevi’s daughters), Ibrahim Ali Khan (Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh’s son), Aryan Khan (Shah Rukh and Gauri Khan’s son), Krishna Shroff (Tiger and Ayesha Shroff’s daughter) have all found their own fan followings on social media. Even as their “followers” who number in the hundreds of thousands diligently check on their every post — be it on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter — these star “kids” (quite literally, with most of them being in their teens) are dealing with both the benefits and pitfalls of early fame.
And among the pitfalls is the kind of body shaming that many of them have been subjected to on social media. For instance, when Krishna Shroff posted pictures from a sexy photoshoot on Instagram, along with appreciative comments...were several that attempted to “slut shame” her. After a Bollywood website posted photos of Aalia Ebrahim (Pooja Bedi’s daughter) with the caption “Look who’s ready for Bollywood ” the comments from readers took a turn for the offensive. And the latest to experience this side of fame on social media is Khushi Kapoor, Boney and Sridevi Kapoor’s younger daughter. Khushi, who often puts up photos of herself and her famous pals on Instagram faced a barrage of negative comments about her body recently.
However, none of these star kids have taken the trolling lying down. In a strongly worded post on Instagram, Khushi responded to her detractors by saying: “I post my pictures because I feel good and confident...not because I want to show off or try to be anyone or anything else. I put something out there because it’s something I feel good about. Everyone is entitled to have their own opinion but putting someone else down is not making you any better of a person. Please think twice before you decide to comment something rude or offensive, it’s not a joke. It’s sad how in this day and age, where feminism is finally getting the attention it deserves, girls still feel the need to tear each other down and indulge in body shaming. I don’t care if you think my stomach pops out or if I don’t fit into your idea of beautiful, but for your own conscience please realise that having such narrow minded opinions of people makes you an ugly person inside. I truly believe everyone is beautiful in their own way.
Why can’t we all celebrate that and encourage each other There is only one of you, embrace your beauty, and don’t rain on my parade when I’m confident enough to embrace mine. I hope that whatever it is that frustrates you enough to be so cruel will one day go away, because some people might actually take your snide remarks seriously, and I know from experience it can hurt. Let’s be kind to one another.”
Khushi isn’t the only one to have earned praise for the way she’s dealt with her detractors. Krishna Shroff too hit back at those who trolled her for posting her photoshoot images. Telling us how she dealt with the negativity, Krishna explained, “My parents have always supported me in whatever I have done. (For the Instagram post) there were comments insinuating that I am trying to get producers’ attention by posting pictures (on the Internet). But that is my personal space. I can post whatever I want. It doesn’t mean that I want to get into acting. I have always done what makes me happy.”
Aalia Ebrahim has said that when she noticed body- or slut-shaming comments on her Instagram feeds, her initial reaction was simply to block them. Then came the backlash to her photos on the Bollywood news website, with several commenters referring to her as a prostitute, or saying they didn’t want Indian girls to grow up to be like her. Aalia has said that at first she chose to ignore it, but admitted, “This annoyed me and refused to budge from the back of my mind”.
So she wrote an expansive message on her blog, titled, “I am more than my breasts”. In her piece, Aalia said, “If my cleavage is visible, it does not mean I am giving consent, it does not mean I am ‘asking for it’. I am more than my breasts and it is unfair to let them define me. I am an 18-year-old Indian girl and that does not take away the fact that I am allowed to dress the way I please. I wouldn’t judge or disrespect a woman in a burkha, salwaar kameez or sari, and I deserve the same respect back. It is unfair to sexualise me and base my morals, my achievements and my goals and ambitions on my breasts. If I choose to wear a bikini, it is my choice and it is about time we grow up and let individuals be their own people without fearing what society will say.”
A theme running through the responses of all of these young girls seems to be that of confidence in themselves. Says psychotherapist Dr Minnu Bhonsle, “The fact that they have put themselves online acknowledges that they are ready to accept whatever comes their way. We live in a networked world — appreciation, criticism, trolls, followers, it’s all a package deal.”
Certainly Aaliyah Kashyap (the daughter of Aarti Bajaj and Anurag Kashyap) seems to understand that as well as her peers. On a recent social networking site, she was targeted by commenters for being “anorexic” and promoting eating disorders because she only posted photos of “thin friends”. “It’s not my fault. I am the way I am. I have no intention of ‘promoting anorexia’ or causing ‘eating disorders’. All that is a choice made by people I am not responsible for it. I am not anorexic, it’s just my genes since my mother was like this too,” Aaliyah responded, before admitting to a more supportive commenter, “The hate I get makes no sense.”
Dr Bhonsle points out that trolls are often just people looking for their five minutes of fame, but their online hate can scar those at the receiving end. “Sometimes people innocently put themselves online and are deeply hurt with the kind of feedback they receive. If they want that kind of exposure online, their parents need to prepare them for the flak as well as the appreciation. They need to teach them prudence and responsibility,” she says.
When we asked Boney Kapoor about the advice that he shares with daughters Khushi and Jhanvi regarding dealing with trolls and social media use, he said, ““I wouldn’t like to speak about it in the public domain; whatever I need to discuss regarding these matters, I will directly tell my daughters.”
