MUMBAI: A Bollywood actress who starred in India’s highest-grossing movie said she is quitting acting because it is incompatible with her Islamic faith, sparking a social media storm.
In a lengthy social media post published Sunday, Zaira Wasim said she was leaving the profession because becoming a Bollywood star had “damaged” her relationship with God. The 18-year-old won major awards for her two film roles to date and was considered a rising star of Indian cinema.
“This field indeed brought a lot of love... my way, but what it also did was to lead me to a path of ignorance, as I silently and unconsciously transitioned out of imaan (faith),” she wrote on Instagram.
“While I continued to work in an environment that consistently interferes with my imaan, my relationship with my religion was threatened,” she added. Wasim, from the restive Indian-administered area of Kashmir, shot to fame in 2016 when she starred alongside Bollywood icon Aamir Khan in the hit movie “Dangal”.
She won a National Film Award for her role as an aspiring female wrestler, and the film went on to become India´s highest-grossing movie. It also enjoyed massive success in China. Wasim followed that up with a Filmfare Critics Award for her outing in 2017´s “Secret Superstar”, in which she played a young, Muslim singer-songwriter who becomes a YouTube sensation.
Bollywood has a long tradition of Muslim movie stars — the three Khans: Aamir, Salman and Shah Rukh have dominated box offices for the last three decades. There are far fewer Muslim actresses however — in particular from the divided Kashmir region — and some social media users took to Twitter to criticise Wasim for invoking Islam as her reason for stepping away from acting.
Heavy rain swelled rivers and flooded streets in the Florence area. —AFP/FileROME: FLorence was out of danger due to...
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer attends a press conference following a virtual summit video conference at 10...
Sirajuddin Haqqani in Kabul on February 1, 2023. — AFPKARACHI: Media reports from Afghanistan claim that...
A US Air Force F-35 Lightning II aircraft receives fuel over Poland, on February 24, 2022. —ReutersISLAMABAD: The...
A plane seen on fire in this screengrab.— Instagram@warriednut/File WASHINGTON: An American Airlines jet caught fire...
President Vladimir Putin.— AFP/File MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin on Friday called on beleaguered Ukrainian...