What happens when a woman refuses to shrink herself? She gets trolled for existing and, of course, body-shamed. Kajol, a legend of Bollywood, couldn’t escape the wrath of body-shaming trolls either. At a recent promotional event for her series Trial Season 2, Kajol showed up in a beautiful black bodycon dress. Instead of celebrating her powerhouse presence or discussing her upcoming role, the paparazzi at the event chose to body-shame her. They zoomed in on her curves, serving yet another reminder of how society ridicules women’s bodies. When this wasn’t enough, people dropped worse comments on videos covering her looks for the promotional event. Here’s what they said.

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How people body-shamed Kajol at Trial 2 promotions

Old habits die hard, especially when people simply refuse to overcome their toxicity. Just when Kajol’s promotional looks surfaced on the internet, people questioned if she is pregnant at 51. What could have been a regular work event turned into a troll saga by some unforgiving keyboard warriors who love to project their insecurities on others. People sexualised her curves, while some blamed Kajol’s costume designer for “a fashion disaster”. This once again proves that no amount of fame and talent can protect women, including Bollywood celebrities like Kajol, from getting body-shamed. Here’s what people commented on several paparazzi videos of Kajol in that sleek black bodycon dress.

Images via @goley.sunil_

Images via @filmymantramedia

Mini Mathur’s support for Kajol: A much-needed intervention

While some people echoed a tired rant saying women should wear age-appropriate dresses, some women, including actor Mini Mathur, supported Kajol. Cutting through the noise, Mini Mathur commented on Bollywood photographer Sunilkumar Gol‘s Instagram post to silence the trolling. “How dare you zoom in on her body???? She doesn’t owe you guys eternal youth. You don’t get to decide how she should look,” Mini said. Some other women also came out in support and normalised having curves regardless of age.

Images via @goley.sunil_

Body-shaming in Bollywood

This isn’t the first time the audience has body-shamed Kajol. On countless occasions, people have judged her fashion choice, whether she’s wearing a saree or a dress. Not only Kajol, the internet continues policing women’s bodies by showering unnecessary judgement on female actors in Bollywood. They still body-shame actors like Sonakshi Sinha, Tamannaah Bhatia, and Huma Qureshi for their weight. Before that, the internet trolled Aishwarya Rai Bachchan for her post-pregnancy weight at the Cannes Film Festival 2012. And when trolls need something different to do, they judge other female actors like Neena Gupta for wearing short skirts and sleeveless tops at 66, and Ananya Panday, calling her “flat-chested”, “chicken legs”, and so on.

When will the world start treating women as human beings instead of making them feel like mannequins?

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