Shades Of Odisha Athlete Dutee Chand’s Life In Taapsee Pannu’s ‘Rashmi Rocket’?

New Delhi: Taapsee Pannu is flaunting her toned up athletic body for her upcoming movie, ‘Rashmi Rocket’ but her detractors are not impressed. Not that it bothers her.

Ever since her look in the film was revealed, the actress has received comments that called her a “mard ki body wali ladki (woman with a man’s body).” Following the release of the trailer, the actress has tweeted and posted a video.

Acknowledging the offending comments, Taapsee Pannu said that there were several “women who actually hear this daily for no fault of theirs.”  She attached the tweet to a video montage of such comments made against her. Taapsee also thanked her detractors and wrote, “Thank you so much for validating my hard work for Rashmi Rocket.” Her tweet said, “Heartfelt thank you from yours truly. But there are many women who actually hear this daily for no fault of theirs. An ode to all the athletes who give their sweat and blood to the sport and their nation and still get to hear this.”

Taapsee’s photo was shared on the media with the caption, Guess who? To which a Twitter user commented on her manly physique. The user said, “Ye mard ki body wali sirf Taapsee hi ho sakti hai. (This manly physique can only be Taapsee Pannu’s.)”

Reacting to the tweet then, Taapsee Pannu said, “All I will say is…Just remember this line and wait for September 23. And advance mein Thank you, I really worked hard for this compliment.” Well, it looks like Taapsee kept her promise and came up with a powerful response in the form of her trailer and now, the tweet.

Even women who train hard and play harder are expected to conform to the ‘feminine’ looking frame that isn’t too muscular or too strong-looking or too sturdy. In fitness too, we differentiate between the ideal and undesirable. And basis what? Our subjective, prejudiced ideas of what kind of beauty is agreeable.

Notably, Odisha athlete Dutee Chand was put through sexist, humiliating criticisms after she was dropped last moment from the 2014 Commonwealth Games, following authority claims of hyperandrogenism. A year later, in a landmark judgment, that suspended the federation’s discriminatory gender rules, Chand’s path was cleared and sex testing for sportspersons came into question.

Directed by Akarsh Khurana, and also starring actors Supriya Pathak, Priyanshu Painyuli and Abhishek Banerjee, Rashmi Rocket is gearing up for an OTT release on October 15.

Watch the trailer: