‘National crush’ Girija Oak says she received distasteful texts from men but no work: ‘Rickshaw phir bhi nahi mil rahi’

Actress Girija Oak who worked with Shah Rukh Khan in Jawan recently opened up about dealing with the national crush tag and the challenges that came with it.

Girija Oak on being tagged as the national crush (Photo: Girija Oak / Instagram)

Actress Girija Oak has been a celebrated name in the theatre circuit; other than this, she has also appeared in Marathi and Hindi films over two decades. Recently, the Jawan actress was tagged as the new national crush after one of her interviews went viral. It happened after she went viral as the ‘blue saree girl.’ While Girija’s images were being widely shared on social media, many were also comparing her to international celebrities. Reacting to this overnight fame, Girija Oak recently spoke to Lallantop about how she and her family dealt with the tag.

She said, “I had no idea something like this would happen. No one imagines this. I am enjoying the attention. I received a DM saying, ‘Will you be my babes?’ If you see my Instagram, you would know that I am married and have a son, have been doing theatre for a long time, so there is a sense of respect that comes, but then the national crush tag also gets me to witness words like ‘babe’, there is an interesting divide in the audience to either respect me or sexualize me.”

Also Read: Jawan actor Girija Oak Godbole, the viral ‘blue saree girl’, says her AI-morphed vulgar photos worry her: ‘My 12-year-old son will see those’

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A post shared by Girija Oak Godbole (@girijaoakgodbole)

Sharing how her family reacted to the attention, Girija shared, “We are enjoying the messages that are coming in; the whole family belongs to this field, so they look at all this with a balanced perspective. It’s never happened with me, so it was new, but amusing. My son was on his school trip, and when all this happened, he wasn’t aware. When I went to pick him up, all the parents were discussing this with me, and my son got confused. He is small now, so he doesn’t understand the concept of virality. I tried to explain to him how it all snowballs. Later, he asked me if I would change now with all the attention? Initially, I joked that, of course, I would, and he had better talk to me nicely, as this was my Girija 2.0 version, but then I assured him that I wouldn’t change.”

Girija also shared how she is often asked by people if life changed after this shot to fame. She shared, “When people ask me what has changed after being tagged as the national crush, I laugh and say nothing has changed, Rickshaw mujhe abhi nahi mil rahi hai (I still struggle to find an auto-rickshaw). I am not getting extra work offers.”

Also Read | Girija Oak on how kissing scenes are shot: ‘It’s mechanical, you’re sweating, like kissing a cardboard’

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A post shared by JAR Pictures (@jar_pictures)

Girija also spoke about the flip side of going viral and said that she received many disturbing messages, too. The actress recalled how someone asked her, ‘What would be the price to spend one hour with you?’ She pointed out and said, “If these same people saw me in real life, they wouldn’t even look up. Behind a veil, people say anything. In front of you, they speak with love and respect.” Earlier, the actress had expressed concerns over her AI-morphed vulgar photos, saying that her son would also see them.

On the work front, Girija Oak has been a part of popular Hindi projects like Qala, The Vaccine War, Jawan, Shor In The City, etc.

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