19th October 2023, Mumbai: At just a teenager from an ordinary non-media background, Nina Sarkar found herself utterly unprepared for the wave of attention following her breakthrough in the popular T-Series music video “Leja Leja Re” in 2007.
By the age of 18, this young model was jet-setting to exotic locations for numerous international brand shoots. But, there was a catch.
“I had no idea of the repercussions of starting a career so early,” she says, “I’m 18,
suddenly have thousands of fans and followers — the reaction was positive. It can
only get better from here, right?”
After the hit video, an influx of calls from film production houses overwhelmed the
teen, and along with it, terrifying tales of casting couch experiences.
“My mom would come with me everywhere. She was as clueless as I was. My dad,
who worked in finance, had misgivings about life in the media. But we were not
prepared for how blatant the requests for ‘compromise’ were. Men in their 40s and
50s would touch my mom’s feet, tell her that I am like their daughter too, and then
take me into the audition room — with the door open so mom could see me — and
would whisper to me that I had to ‘compromise’ and ‘be in a relationship with them’ in
order to further my acting career. I always said no thanks, and left quietly, not telling
mom about it until we got home. I stuck to modelling rather than acting, which was far
cleaner. It was a different time back then, before the #MeToo movement.”
Before the era of Instagram and influencers, models didn’t attain the same level of fame as actresses and naturally didn’t earn as much as their counterparts in films. Nina, not even trained as an actress and struggling with Hindi, faced pressure to ‘compromise’. She was urged to undergo breast enhancement, nose jobs, and lip fillers, all of which she firmly declined, a decision she attributes to her parents.
“I’m so so lucky. I saw so many young girls who couldn’t afford to eat or pay their rent,
because they went to Mumbai against their parents; wishes, and they didn’t have the
kind of support I did to just walk away from projects.”
The fan experiences then become unpleasant. People would learn her home address and private phone number. Threats of rape, stalking, and harassment followed. While filming as an anchor for a well-known English TV station, a particularly horrifying thing happened.
channel; Two men barged onto the set and demanded to take her away right away.
Thankfully, the TV channel staff kept her hidden in a room for almost two hours.
“The wonderful producer came over and told me he was going to lock the green room
door from the outside and turn off the power supply in an attempt to hide my presence. The men said ‘their boss’ from another state was a big fan and asked them to bring me to him immediately. My Co-anchor and I stayed quiet until they left, and we snuck out through the back a few hours later.”
These experiences deeply scarred Nina, leading her to withdraw from public view. After heartfelt conversations with her equally distressed family, they collectively agreed that leaving Mumbai permanently was the best choice—it simply wasn’t worth the toll.
Over the years, fans would speculate online about the girl from their cherished video, wondering why they couldn’t locate any information about her. Meanwhile, Nina embarked on a personal journey to pursue her aspirations of becoming a writer and businesswoman, a career path she had long envisioned for herself.
“I have such a fantastic career, I run my own company, and I have never been as
happy as I am now. I don’t have the pressure to always be size zero, I don’t get
judged for the food I eat, the clothes I wear, and am not constantly monitored by
people I barely know. I have had many positive experiences in my acting career that
I’ll always cherish, but the negative experiences were far more frequent.”
On being asked about why she no longer ‘hides’ herself, she says,
“Times have changed and things are much better for women now. I am older and
wiser at 35, and I started opening up when I realised that it was making a positive
difference in the lives of young girls. Messages from young women who identify with
my choice to speak openly about mental health and wellness, to denounce body-
shamers, and to live on my own terms – That has been my main inspiration to
gradually maintain a minimal online presence.”
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