EXCLUSIVE: It’s like calling a woman living her life independently a s**t: Shibani Bedi on dealing with influencer tag

Shibani Bedi and Dolly Singh are social media influencers and content creators and enjoy a massive fan following. The two are set to star in Thank You For Coming alongside Bhumi Pednekar and Kusha Kapila. The cast of Thank You For Coming sat down with us for an exclusive interview and opened up about the influencer tag they face.

Shibani Bedi speaks up about the influencer tag

When asked how Shibani Bedi and Dolly Singh deal with the influencer tags, Shibani Bedi says, “It is the world’s way of reducing everything that you have done and cutting you down to size. It’s like calling a woman living her life independently a s**t because she is having fun. So please take your shot ‘influenza for life’ and ‘content creator for life’ and still doing better than you. Even this movie did not come to us because we were ‘influencing’. We were auditioned eight times. We had eight rounds of tests, three reads with Bhumi, it was a lot of work. And even then it didn’t stop. But, obviously, none of that matters. It’s so easy to be like ‘ye toh ye hi karti hai’ and then just cut them down to size, which I think is not cool.”

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A post shared by Shibani (@shibani_bedi)

Dolly Singh on dealing with influencer tags

Dolly Singh adds, “Social media par itna kuch chamak dhamak wala dekhte hai naa toh logo ko lagta hai ke ye karte kya hai. Photo liya, daal diya, ho gaya, paise bann jaate hai. Aur unko yeh bhi lagta hai ke hum bahot kamaate hai toh it’s easy to take digs. Inko lagta hai video bana liya, naach liya, gaa liya, khade ho gaye camera ke samne chaar photo kheech li aur laga li. Agar itna easy hai toh tum bhi kar ke dekh lo.”

(When people see social media as glam, they feel what do we do, as in just upload a pic and you earn money from it. They also feel that we earn a lot, so it is easy to take digs. They feel we click a few photos in front of the camera and post and we are done. If it is so easy, try it out!)

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A post shared by Dolly Singh (@dollysingh)

Further Shibani adds that it takes consistency hard work, and it takes a toll on them. She adds that there is no longevity, no respect, no matter what you do.

Dolly says she used to feel bad before when people called her ‘influenza’. She said she used to rectify people to call her ‘content creator’, adding that she used to detach herself from the term. Further, she realized that there is no point in it, “I need to learn how to change this perception. Haa mai influencer hu, par shayad tumhara nazariya galat hai ke saare influencer aise hi hai.” (Yes, I am an influencer. probably your view is wrong to consider every influencer the same)

Further in the interview, the cast of Thank You For Coming also spoke about sexism and being slut shamed.

Watch the full interview here:

Thank You For Coming is slated to release on 6^th October, 2023.

Also read: EXCLUSIVE: Shehnaaz Gill recalls feeling cornered at parties, says ‘Inko meri value hi nahi pata’

Rashita Sahni

I make celebrities talk, laugh & spill the tea!
Film & Fashion Journalist | Bombay