MUMBAI: Getting a job in Bollywood is challenging. Years passed for many until they finally made a breakthrough. Therefore, it is unexpected when someone who has achieved success and is obtaining great roles chooses to give it all up. While many have made this decision, few have taken it as abruptly and as early as Zaira Wasim. The hugely successful Dangal was the actress's professional debut as a teenager. But she had completed her last movie just three years later.
Zaira Wasim made her screen debut in Dangal, the Aamir Khan-starring biopic about the Phogat sisters when she was fifteen years old. In the movie, Zaira portrayed a young Geeta Phogat. Dangal made an incredible Rs 2000 crore globally at the time of its release, making it the highest-grossing Indian movie ever. At the time, not a single Hindi film had made above Rs 1000 crore. Zaira appeared in the coming-of-age musical Secret Superstar the next year. With a box office receipt of Rs 915 crore, the movie is still the highest-grossing female-led Indian film ever.
Zaira was 17 at the time and said that a fellow traveler on her Vistara aircraft had touched her improperly in December 2017. The actress said that the man seated behind her on a flight from Delhi to Mumbai stroked her neck with his feet. She said the poor lights in the cabin prevented her from recording it. Zaira's accusation prompted the airline to launch an inquiry.
Vikas Sachdeva, the accused, was later taken into custody and charged under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses) Act. The wife of Sachdeva claimed that her husband was not at fault and that, after falling asleep on the aircraft, he unintentionally touched Zaira. She went on to say that the actress who accepted it had received an apology from them. Zaira faced internet trolling and accusations of faking the case after this. The accused was found guilty and given a three-year prison sentence in January 2020. After the accused filed an appeal, the Bombay High Court suspended the punishment.
Zaira wrapped up filming her third movie, The Sky Is Pink, in 2019. She played the role of Aisha Chaudhary, a motivational speaker and social media influencer who is terminally sick; Farhan Akhtar and Priyanka Chopra played her parents. Zaira announced her acting retirement in June, several months before the movie's premiere, citing an incompatibility between her acting profession and her religious convictions. She explained that because the work she was doing did not align with her faith, she could not, in good conscience, continue doing it. Her final on-screen role was slated to appear in the September release of the movie.
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Credit- DNA
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