Anu Aggarwal says heroines would drink whiskey in steel glasses: ‘People were shocked when I said I was in a live-in relationship’

Anu Aggarwal recalled walking out of a shoot after they tried to whiten her skin.

New Delhi | Updated: December 14, 2022 08:11 AM IST

3 min read

Anu Aggarwal recalled the time when she walked out of a shoot. (Photo: Anu Aggarwal/Instagram)

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Aashiqui actor Anu Aggarwal became an overnight sensation after her film became the love story of the season. However, before grabbing headlines for her hit film, Anu was a popular model who had done some work in Paris. In a recent interview, Anu recalled that when she started working in India, she was proud of her skin tone and never felt inferior in any way to any fair-skinned person. But, when someone tried to brighten her skin tone during a shoot, Anu walked off the set.

While speaking with Siddharth Kannan, Anu recalled that once someone tried to ‘whiten’ her face. She shared, “Unhone mujhe safed karne ki koshish kari mere shoot mein, I walked off the shoot… They said ‘Arre madam, voh set tayyar hai, sab log khade hain vahan pe, camera tayyar hai. I said ‘Agar aapko gori ladki chahiye thi toh gori models hain na saari unko le lete, mujhe kyu liya? Agar aapne mujhe lia then accept me as I am. You can’t take me and try to make me fair. I got out. (They tried to whiten my face in the shoot, I walked off… They said, ‘Ma’am the set is ready, everyone is standing, the camera is ready. I said, ‘If you wnated a fair girl, then you should hgave cast a fair model, Why did you take me? If you have taken me then accept me as I am. You can’t take me and try to make me fair. I got out.)”

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Anu further recalled that apart from this instance, she was never discriminated against for film roles. She said, “Yahan pe kabhi bhi kisi ne mujhse nahi kaha ki tum saanvali ho toh tumko yeh role nahi milega. Matlab voh consideration hi nahi thi. I don’t know how. Na modeling mein. Mujhe lagta hai ki kahin mere andar hi yeh sawaal nahi tha. Mujhe lagta tha ki meri yeh skin hai. I owned it (Here, no one told me that because you are dusky, you won’t get a certain role. That was never a consideration. Not even in modelling. I think because this was never a question within myself. It was my skin and I owned it).”

Anu said that she lived a very unconventional life. She recalled that she would smoke openly and was told that other female actors of the time would drink whiskey in steel glasses so no one could see. She also recalled that she was in a live-in relationship with her boyfriend at the time when such a living arrangement was unheard of. “When I had a live in relationship, they said ‘What?’ Matlab ki dharti paon ke neeche se nikal gayi (They had the rug swept out from under their feet). They were shocked, shocked beyond belief that how can a girl do that? Bina shaadi kare ladke ke sath reh rahi hai? (She’s living with a boy without marriage?)”

Anu Aggarwal recently appeared on Indian Idol during an episode celebrating Aashiqui’s music.

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