Actress Zaira Wasim, who played the younger Geeta Phogat in the recent blockbuster Dangal, had posted a rather mysterious open letter on her Instagram account on Monday afternoon. The young 16-year-old shot to fame for her part in the Aamir Khan film, and was also recently invited to meet the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehboob Mufti along with her family.
Zaira’s open letter asked for an apology after stating that “...many people have been offended and displeased by my recent actions or by the people I have recently met.”
She went on to say, “I am being projected as a role model for Kashmiri youth. I want to make it very clear that I do not want anyone to follow in my footsteps or even consider me as a role model. I’m not proud of what I am doing but I want everyone, especially the Youth to know that there are real role models out there...”
Zaira surprisingly also wrote, “To even consider me as a role model would be disgracing them and their disgrace would be our disgrace!”
However, Zaira deleted her Instagram posts by evening after the media picked it up and it became national news.
She also posted this message clarifying her stand on Facebook, which she also deleted within a few minutes:
According to some sources, Zaira’s recent meeting with Mehbooba Mufti led to her being trolled online, added to it were hate messages from Muslim radicals who accused the 16-year-old of being “un-Islamic” by having acted in a film, and this open letter was put up as a reaction to it.
Sample some of the trolling and abuse that Zaira was subjected to online after the news of her meeting the CM was published on Facebook by a local media outlet:
Zaira’s sudden outburst on social media also got reactions on Twitter:
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