Life of a Bollywood celebrity isn’t easy. They are constantly under the limelight to the extent that their personal lives too come under intense scrutiny. And if the celebrity happens to be a popular actress, then she is subjected to several weird and often misogynistic speculations. Who knows this better than our very own Deepika Padukone. This tall Bollywood beauty has been under speculation for a lot of reasons – from her relationship status, the men she dates, and even the change in her skin tone! We thought all of this would take a backseat when she famously got hitched to fellow Bollywood actor – Ranveer Singh – in November last year. But we were wrong.
Image: deepikapadukone / Instagram
Soon after the couple’s marriage, the media and their fans simply cannot stop obsessing about Deepika’s pregnancy. Remember the now-famous Met gala after-party photograph of Deepika with Priyanka and Nick Jonas? She set the tongues wagging after the pictures showed a slight bump under her neon green dress. Media and fans brought the house down with all sorts of suggestions. Some even started to guess the duration of her pregnancy! However, it all came to naught since it was nothing but a regular food bump showing through a well-fitted gown.
Image: deepikapadukone / Instagram
Now, Deepika’s fans have found another reason to speculate about her pregnancy status. Recently, she posted a few baby pictures of herself on her social media handle. These adorable and cute pictures showed baby Deepika sleeping in various poses. Known for a witty sense of humor, she had captioned these pictures suggesting her situation post-Diwali celebrations. Soon, the internet was flooded with cute comments. But some fans took the wrong cue and thought it might be a hint to her ‘probable’ pregnancy. This set off a chain of responses from her fans asking her if she is pregnant or if it was a subtle hint from her regarding her impending pregnancy! Some even went to the extent of congratulating her.
What seems to have fueled this speculation further, though, could be a previous comment by the actress. A few months ago, her husband, actor Ranveer Singh, shared a live session from London on his social media handle. During this session, Deepika commented ‘Hi Daddie’ and added an emoji of a baby along with a wave and heart emoji. Ranveer responded with a ‘Hi Baby’. And all hell broke loose. It was enough to trigger a series of comments and questions asking if the actress was indeed pregnant. In our opinion, it simply seemed like a fun conversation between husband and wife.
Image: deepikapadukone / Instagram
It is hard to believe that even in this century, where women are setting new benchmarks of achievements, we continue to tread the beaten path. No matter how well-accomplished a woman is professionally or in her personal space, society expects her to get married and have children immediately to consider her ‘well-settled’ in her life. We often tend to forget that women have a right to their bodies and lives too. Yet, they are not even given this rightful choice to make such important decisions for themselves. It is often given that a woman should plan a baby at a certain point in her marriage. And when she crosses that particular time limit, she is hounded by such weird questions by her in-laws, extended relatives, and sometimes even her own family. After a point, fingers are raised at her fertility aspects too.
Image: deepikapadukone / Instagram
The obsession with Deepika’s pregnancy might not come as a surprise to us, and neither does it to the actress. But it says a lot about the dangerous cultural exposure our generation is getting. If and when the actress decides to have a baby, a lot of naive youngsters might believe that pestering a woman for a baby is the only way to get her to give in to their demands.
Thus, it’s high time that we celebrate women and womanhood by keeping aside tags attached to them – of a daughter, sister, wife, and mother. Let’s start viewing them as women and humans first. Let’s give then the right to a dignified life, the right to own their space, and the right to decide what is good for themselves and their bodies!
