Radhika Apte's message to her 17-year-old adolescent self is simple, reassuring, and something that every woman in India needs in her life.
What would you tell your 17-year-old self? The little girl mired in peer pressure, social anxieties, identity issues, not knowing where she’d end up, unsure of what’s right and wrong – it’s every adolescent girl’s story. Doubts about body image and what people think of her plague her mind: Am I too short? Am I too fat? Is my hair too unruly? Is my laughter too loud? Am I not fair? She over-thinks, plays up her own anxieties, and it unwittingly affects her self-confidence.
And then she grows up. More important issues take precedence in her life: finding love, building relationships, becoming someone, having fun. All those adolescent fears vanish. But sometimes, parts of it linger. It holds her back from being who she truly is: beautiful, unstoppable, magical.
Which is why this heartwarming video has been doing the rounds on social media, inspiring faith, reassurance and acceptance of one’s body and style.
It’s a simple and straightforward message: You’re beautiful. Not according to standards set by conventional media, but as you are.
The gorgeous, confident, alluring Radhika Apte elegantly bashes the ‘well-behaved Indian girl’ ideal.
Source: Facebook (left), Facebook (centre), Facebook (right)
She asks: how do you define well-behaved? How do you define Indian girl? How do you define beautiful, normal, acceptable? Unpretentious, genuine, and honest, this is a message every woman needs to hear, so that she appreciates herself better, and can go out there and break records and set milestones for herself.
Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter (@thebetterindia).