"What am I supposed to do with that?"
Shibani Dandekar opened up on her marriage to Farhan Akhtar, recalling the online trolling she faced when she first started dating.
The couple’s union, being interfaith and also Farhan’s second marriage, drew unwarranted scrutiny and negative comments.
Shibani was labelled a “gold digger” and faced comments like “Love Jihad”. Despite the hurtful remarks, she remained unaffected.
In a candid conversation with Rhea Chakraborty on her podcast, Shibani said:
“I think social media comments should only strike a chord with you if there is any kind of truth to it that you believe, and that impacts you somehow.
“If there is no basis for that comment, or whatever that people are saying, how can something that is so untrue affect you?”
Reflecting on the incessant trolling, she mentioned:
“On a daily basis, when I started my relationship with Farhan, people used to say these two things to me – ‘love jihad and gold digger’.
“What am I supposed to do with that? I am not going to cry myself to bed because people are saying these things.
“I am not a gold digger, and the truth of the matter is that he does come from a Muslim home, and I do come from a Hindu home, and we got married.
“And we are very happy with our marriage. That’s the reality of our situation.
“I get comments like, ‘Who is she?’, ‘Who was she before marrying Farhan Akhtar?’
“Am I going to sit and read that comment, and think s**t, have I done anything with my life?
“Was I anybody before I married him?’ or do I know I lived a whole 39 years before I met him?
“Am I going to believe some random person or am I going to believe my own journey?”
She highlighted the need to differentiate between truth and malicious intent, stating:
“There is also a difference between what is true and what someone is saying to get at you, to cut you off the knees, to feel like you don’t matter.”
Shibani Dandekar concluded by emphasising the importance of distancing oneself from negativity:
“I can get on my phone right now and I can make 15 nasty comments on random pages for random people for no reason other than I want to.
“It’s not up to us to figure out why these people are doing what they are doing because we will never get that. It is up to us to know how to handle ourselves.”
Shibani Dandekar and Farhan Akhtar tied the knot in February 2022 after dating for more than three years.
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