Bollywood promotion days usually run on box office and release dates. Mrunal Thakur’s latest one ran on something sharper. While promoting the crime thriller Pooja Meri Jaan, she was asked about the online trolling of Katrina Kaif and Kriti Sanon, and she did not soften the answer.
“It’s their life, it’s their choice,” Mrunal told PTI. “People are crazy.”
The trolling that started the conversation
Katrina Kaif was body-shamed last month after she was seen at the Ambanis’ Ganpati celebrations, with social media users commenting on her weight after the birth of her son, Vihaan. Katrina later said at her London brand event that she did not want the social media narrative to “paralyse” her.
Kriti Sanon, before that, faced backlash over her choice of clothing in a jewellery brand ad released during Raksha Bandhan. The ad was eventually taken down, and Kriti clarified on social media that she never intended to hurt anyone’s sensibilities.
Mrunal’s larger point
Mrunal connected the comments to a bigger blind spot. She said people judge “iconic women” while forgetting the work they have done and the contribution they make to the industry and the business. Kriti and Katrina, she said, are running businesses not just in India but in markets like the UK.
She also made a simple observation: women are always judged, and now men are judged too. The point was not that scrutiny is new; it is that scrutiny has become the default response, even when the work is right there.
What the noise misses
The pattern is familiar. A new mother returns to a public celebration, and the conversation shifts from her filmography to her waistline. A festive campaign is released, and the outrage lands on an outfit instead of the message. That reflex reduces actors to their appearance while ignoring their commercial value.
- Katrina Kaif was body-shamed after the Ambani Ganpati celebrations and answered the trolling at a London brand event.
- Kriti Sanon’s Raksha Bandhan jewellery ad was pulled after backlash; she said no harm was intended.
- Mrunal Thakur called the commentary “crazy” and asked people to respect an actor’s life and choices.
Why the lens matters
Every red-carpet appearance and airport look can become an invitation to judge. What Mrunal is asking for is a shift in the lens: see the outfit, but also see the years of work behind the person wearing it. That is the difference between covering a celebrity and policing one.
Watch the work, skip the judgement
For fans, the next step is simple: respect the choice and press play. Mrunal’s Pooja Meri Jaan, directed by Navjot Gulati and produced by Dinesh Vijan’s Maddock Films, is now streaming on ZEE5. The film follows Pooja, a free-spirited woman who rejects a sudden proposal from a friend, after which he dies by suicide and leaves an email blaming her.
The request from Mrunal is not to stop discussing celebrity culture. It is to remember that the person on the screen has a life, a team and a career that long outlasts a single comment section.
Source: Hindustan Times
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