I was asked to straighten my curly hair as it makes me look fat: Qudsia Ali

Starlet opened up on her early days of auditions and trying to make it as an actor

Actor Qudsia Ali, who is currently playing the younger sister Taniya in fan-favourite Kuch Ankahi, opened up about the brutal beauty standards in the drama industry. The starlet revealed that one of the biggest challenges she faced when she entered showbiz was body shaming and people constantly telling her to shed some kilos to make it big on screen.

In conversation with Fuchsia, Ali expanded on the challenges she has faced as an actor in this industry. “A major challenge in my earlier days was my physique and my weight. When I’d go for an audition, they would always tell me that ‘if you wish to come on main television, then you’ll have to lose some weight,’” she said.

She further added that she’d always look up to the international standards and wonder why the beauty standards were so different here. “If we look at the international shows, which everyone follows now, they don’t have restrictions of colour, body, skin or weight. They evaluate your skills there. Then why is it like this here? I’d get very disappointed.”

The Khel Khel Mein actor said that she did not give up and kept trying. Upon whether the journey made her lose weight, the starlet denied it immediately. “I never decided to lose weight for someone else. It was my own decision to be hit and healthy for myself – not for work, industry or anyone else. A lot of people still tell me that I look fat on screen because of the space my curly hair takes. They advise me to get keratin treatments to look slimmer but no! This is me, this is who I am and what makes me stand out,” she exclaimed, highlighting that a lot of people have “curly hair and are bubbly” in the industry.

“I am who I am and I’ll get work based on my skills if people like me. I’m going to wait for that, I am someone who can wait,” she said. Upon how difficult the waiting part is, Ali lamented that struggle is a part of her acting career.

Ali also shed light on how she’d often think about losing all of her weight and getting her hair straight but the fear of it not being worth her mental struggle and anguish would stop her. “I’d get these thoughts very often but what’s the guarantee? What’s the guarantee that if I get super slim and get my hair straightened and coloured and whatnot, who has promised me that I’ll make it big then? So why would I take that risk?” she said.

The starlet concluded adding that she had discussed this with her Kuch Ankahi costars Sajal Aly and Muhammed Ahmed as well. “Sajal and Ahmed sahab has also advised me the same. ‘Do what makes you happy. Don’t let others dictate your life’ they’d say. So now I’m doing as I like,” she concluded.

On the work front, Ali has previously starred in Nadeem Baig’s Khel Khel Mein. Her list of dramas includes Aulaad, Betiyaan, Dil Awaiz and the recent Marina Khan, Khushhal Khan and Saboor Aly starrer- Mushkil.

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