Samantha Ruth Prabhu, who was the Telugu Film Industry’s sweetheart until her recent divorce with Naga Chaitanya, is again the target of hate for simply living her life.
From various speculations that Samantha Ruth Prabhu in Pushpa, the pan India blockbuster movie, and her song “O Antava” didn’t go down too well with the Akkineni family to her non-interest to become a mother or the abortion rumours, to more, people are quick to blame her for the divorce based on unverified reasons.
Why Single Out Only Women?
The recent reasons for the online abuse are her association with the alcohol brand “Blenders Pride,” and her dress at the recent ‘Film Critics Award.’
You can call it playing the ‘woman card,’ but the fact is people tend to be starkly judgemental of women only because they view them as soft targets and think they can get away with the abuse.
I don’t remember any time they abused a male actor online for endorsing an alcohol brand ever. They idolized actors like Shatrughan Sinha for their alcohol advertisements.
Why The Criticism Is Hypocritical And Unfair
It’s amusing that people are finding fault for Samantha’s endorsement of an alcohol brand. During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, people were queuing up in the wee hours of the morning to buy alcohol.
India is one of the fastest growing markets for alcoholic beverages worldwide because of the rapid urbanisation, growing middle class population with increased spending power, and a stable economy.
There is an increasing number of women who are consuming alcohol, but there is a stigma attached to them as opposed to male drinkers in India. Global celebrities have endorsed alcohol brands, and their female brand ambassadors have not faced selective outrage and flak for it.
It’s true that alcohol is a double-edged sword, and there are dangerous implications for its consumption. Instead of moral policing women for drinking alcohol, the focus should be on the awareness around responsible alcohol consumption, behaviour and responsible driving apart from regulation.
Also, It’s unfair how people pigeonhole a woman’s worth to marriage and motherhood alone. Everything else is immaterial, especially a woman’s achievements and evolution.
Maybe that’s just it, even in Samantha’s case! Sheer rage and envy at a woman’s audacity to pave her own path and follow her ambitions at the cost of family and motherhood! So, let’s just tear her down and mock all that she does.
Why Do We Conveniently Forget The Good Deeds
Before judging someone else’s life from our myopic lens, let’s pause and look at the other side of the coin as well: Who is Samantha Ruth Prabhu?
Samantha Ruth Prabhu has a philantrophic side to her. She’s known for routinely donating to various social causes.
Samantha Ruth Prabhu co-founded Pratyusha Support, a charitable trust along with Padmashi Dr. Manjula Anagani, India’s leading laparoscopic surgeon, obstetrician, gynecologist and an infertility specialist in 2014. The team has been serving underprivileged sections especially the most vulnerable populations of women and children suffering from life-threatening medical conditions, and sheltering the poor. They have also been organizing free medical awareness camps, check-ups, vaccination drives, blood donation camps, and surgeries.
A pet mommy to Hash and Saasha, Samantha turned to a plant-based diet during the pandemic. She advocates plant-based foods, veganism, and urban-home-farming that propagates ‘putting food on the table.’ She is an investor and the Chief Millennial Farmer of ‘Urban Kissan.’
While it’s easy to judge someone’s life from afar knowing nothing about them personally, maybe it would be better if we could use that time to do something constructive for our society instead.
This post is part of the #breakthebias blog hop hosted by Sakshi Varma and Rakhi Jayshankar, Powered by Beetees Chocolates . Find all the posts from this bloghop here.
So true. Its always the woman who gets blamed? Why no body talks about Naga Chaitanya or other male heros about their affairs and divorces? Its one of those biases which needs to be broken at the earliest.
Agree with you, Tina.
Women like Samantha have struggled a lot and are in their present position because of their hard-work. Truly admire her.
The society is envious of such capable women who are trying to live their lives on their own terms.
I feel terrible to find trolls throwing brickbats, while such women-achievers actually deserve bouquets for all their achievements.
A very insightful write. We have to set an example for our generations to come. My mother broke the bias even before that when she joined AMC and was one on the 1st 3 women to join the army. My father broke the bias 52 years ago. He had distributed sweets to the whole hospital when I was born 52 years ago and he did the same when my daughter was born. Daughters were not a welcome sight then. A couple was considered unlucky if a daughter was born. He led by example and taught people to celebrate as Laxmi had come and that a daughter is as valuable as a son. Can you pls read my article https://rntalksllp.com/international-womens-day-break-the-bias/ and share your feedback. looking fwd to it. regards
Exactly. Why is it that the woman is always held responsible? Women who are capable of living their lives on their terms and with their hard work are less admired by society. Very well penned ✌
I was following this news since the start. and i was so discussed to hear all the baseless rumors that was created. yes, women are always the soft target.
I was following this news since the start. and i was so discussed to hear all the baseless rumors that was created. yes, women are always the soft target…
Thanks so much for writing about this hypocrisy and how the society uses completely different standards for judging men and women. In fact if the divorce was indeed due to some of the reasons you described – then frankly good for her! The guy never deserved her!
A great example of someone living on her own terms. Thanks for sharing Samantha’s story, Tina. To be honest your section on her good deeds and philanthropic side is laudable, but not even necessary. I admire Samantha for her courage and authenticity irrespective!
Tina, you said it rightly that people forget all the good deeds done by women and start finding faults in her be it her mistake or not. And who are we to judge people’s choices, many film heroes are branding alcohol from many decades and people celebrate it widely and when women does that she is being judged for that too.
The article gives a fresh perspective to make sense of things.
If a woman makes a decision which goes against social norms and if that decision concerns only her and not for kids or any other dependents, society makes her life hell. Her happiness doesn’t count, only her responsibilities are important.
Society makes the woman a soft target on various things that they won’t judge a man for. It is worth appreciating that despite all the judgements and resistance women are facing, they are paving their own path and becoming role models for other women.
Women are always the soft target. The fun fact is they target the entire woman community in name of criticising one… Where as run campaign for #NotAllMen.
Well written post Tina
The saddest part is that women themselves are their enemies quite often. Internal misogyny should be dealt with first