Vidya Balan, who once preferred her left profile over right, said that now with her growing acceptance and love for every part of her body, she doesn’t care where she’s being shot from and that she’s no longer scared of anyone seeing that side of her.
Taking to Instagram to pen a long post, she said: “A few days ago, at an event, this pretty girl comes up to me for a picture. There was a crowd and I was trying to do as many pics as possible.
“People were jostling and in the middle of this chaos, the girl was back for another pic. My manager (who is very sharp) promptly told her, ‘aapne toh le liya… please aur nahi’ (You have already taken a picture…please, no more). To which she said, ‘Galat side se liya, main achchi nahi lag rahi, yeh post nahi kar paungi’ (But this is my bad angle, won’t be able to post this picture on social media).
“She was miserable and followed me to the car, relentless in her pursuit to get the perfect picture, almost making it sound like her life depended on it. I obliged. I then got into the car bemused and it made me think.
“You know, I’ve always preferred my left profile over my right but overtime, as I started on this journey of trying to love and accept myself a little more each day, I realised that liking one profile meant liking one part of me to the exclusion of the other.
“Because the truth is that I not only liked my left but also disliked my right profile. I would tell photographers and cinematographers to avoid shooting me from the right. I would be scared if someone shot me from the right because I thought it was my ugly side. It was almost like the fear of being found out.
“Today, with the growing acceptance and love for every part of me and all of me, I don’t care where I’m being shot from. I’m no longer scared of anyone seeing that side of me.
“Truth be told, today not only do I like my right profile, I actually love it. And not because my right profile changed but because I realized it’s never going to. What changed is the way I looked at myself and that changed how I see myself.
“Hence I returned to the room and took this selfie at the end of a long day sans make up because I like me just the way I am. Do you like one profile less than the other? If you do and even if you don’t, post that selfie with both your sides in full glory.”
