Mumbai: Actor Parineeti Chopra says she is happy that the variety of roles being offered to her has increased since she underwent weight loss two years ago.
Taking a break from films in 2016, Chopra spent most of her time working on her physical fitness, and the actor said it paid off as she got Rohit Shetty's "Golmaal Again" only because she "looked fitter" than before.
Asked if filmmakers began viewing her differently after her weight loss, she said, "I think yes. It is not necessarily the typical way that 'Now, she is looking sexy so, we will look at her in a different way.' Not at all.
"It is not like that. Our directors and producers are beyond all of this. They just saw that I could do something different," she said.
Chopra said staying fit gives filmmakers a chance to visualise an actor in various roles.
"When you look a certain way, your expectations from that person are of a particular type, that may be she can only do these many roles," she said.
"But when you give them a shock like this (her weight loss), they see you in a different way, which is why I got 'Golmaal Again', because the girl had to do a lot of action in the film. I don't think I would have gotten it had I not been fit," the actor said.
Chopra was speaking at the launch of this month's edition of Grazia magazine, with her on cover.
The actor will next be seen in "Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar" co-starring Arjun Kapoor.
She also has Karan Johar's production, "Kesari", opposite Akshay Kumar. The film will go on floors next month
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New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said that four to five lakh “Miya voters” would be removed from the electoral rolls in the state once the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists is carried out. He also made a series of controversial remarks openly targeting the Miya community, a term commonly used in Assam in a derogatory sense to refer to Bengali-speaking Muslims.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an official programme in Digboi in Tinsukia district, Sarma said it was his responsibility to create difficulties for the Miya community and claimed that both he and the BJP were “directly against Miyas”.
“Four to five lakh Miya votes will have to be deleted in Assam when the SIR happens,” Sarma said, adding that such voters “should ideally not be allowed to vote in Assam, but in Bangladesh”. He asserted that the government was ensuring that they would not be able to vote in the state.
The chief minister was responding to questions about notices issued to thousands of Bengali-speaking Muslims during the claims and objections phase of the ongoing Special Revision (SR) of electoral rolls in Assam. While the Election Commission is conducting SIR exercises in 12 states and Union Territories, Assam is currently undergoing an SR, which is usually meant for routine updates.
Calling the current SR “preliminary”, Sarma said that a full-fledged SIR in Assam would lead to large-scale deletion of Miya voters. He said he was unconcerned about criticism from opposition parties over the issue.
“Let the Congress abuse me as much as they want. My job is to make the Miya people suffer,” Sarma said. He claimed that complaints filed against members of the community were done on his instructions and that he had encouraged BJP workers to keep filing complaints.
“I have told people wherever possible they should fill Form 7 so that they have to run around a little and are troubled,” he said, adding that such actions were meant to send a message that “the Assamese people are still living”.
In remarks that drew further outrage, Sarma urged people to trouble members of the Miya community in everyday life, claiming that “only if they face troubles will they leave Assam”. He also accused the media of sympathising with the community and warned journalists against such coverage.
“So you all should also trouble, and you should not do news that sympathise with them. There will be love jihad in your own house.” He said.
The comments triggered reactions from opposition leaders. Raijor Dal president and MLA Akhil Gogoi said the people of Assam had not elected Sarma to keep one community under constant pressure. Congress leader Aman Wadud accused the chief minister of rendering the Constitution meaningless in the state, saying his remarks showed a complete disregard for constitutional values.
According to the draft electoral rolls published on December 27, Assam currently has 2.51 crore voters. Election officials said 4.78 lakh names were marked as deceased, 5.23 lakh as having shifted, and 53,619 duplicate entries were removed during the revision process. Authorities also claimed that verification had been completed for over 61 lakh households.
On January 25, six opposition parties the Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad, CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(M-L) submitted a memorandum to the state’s chief electoral officer. They alleged widespread legal violations, political interference and selective targeting of genuine voters during the SR exercise, describing it as arbitrary, unlawful and unconstitutional.
