Saba Azad Blasts Sexist Trolls, Highlights Bias Against Women in Entertainment

Saba Azad has never been the one to let online trolls define her story. Earlier this year, the singer-actor shared a screenshot of a comment mocking her career and had claimed that she doesn’t need to work because she is Hrithik Roshan’s girlfriend. She clapped back and penned down, “Maybe in your world when people fall in love they become incapacitated and landlords stop asking for rent and the need to put food on one’s own table magically evaporates!! Wah!!”In a new conversation with News18 Showsha, Saba shed light on why she openly calls out such. “The moment you’re standing next to a man, your identity will get diluted no matter what. It’s tragic and it’s a deep-seated sexism that most people have, even the most progressive ones. We all need to put food on our table. What do you think is happening here?” she said, half in jest but fully serious in intent.The actor then points out how this problem is beyond her personal life. She picked veteran actress Soni Razdan’s experience as an example: “It’s ennui to me because Soni is an absolute legend. Look at her repertoire of films! She has done Mandi, Daddy, Party… It’s just bizarre that she wouldn’t be recognised as an entity of her own.”She spoke about basic workplace facilities. Saba said that the change is happening much too late and much too slowly. "And then the other things come… like the lack of proper washrooms for women on a set. It happens all the time.”This prejudice also flows into the film industry, She further explained that things are changing but people are hesitant to make films that are only about women or stories that revolve around women. She said that such a condition exists even now. "It’s exponentially better today but still… it immediately falls into a niche,” she concluded.