When Esha Deol Felt 'Overwhelmed' By Comparisons To Mom Hema Malini

Dharmendra and Hema Malini’s daughter, Esha Deol, followed in her parents’ footsteps and took up acting as her career. However, her journey wasn’t easy as she was always compared with her actor parents, especially her mother. Recently, the 42-year-old actress opened up about such comparisons after her debut film, Koi Mere Dil Se Poochhe, and shared how she was “body-shamed for her baby fat”.

In an interview with Zoom, Esha highlighted how her thoughts about the industry changed after her first film. While she was “very excited” to work in the movies after the release of her first film, the “pressure pump” soon started. She said, “The pressure pump started after the films were released and things were written. Then I was like, they are comparing me in my first film to my mother, who has done 200 films. And they would say a lot about my baby fat. ‘Oh, she has so much baby fat’. I had, I was 18, those cheeks were there. But they looked cute in those roles, the kind of roles that I did, I thought they looked nice.”

After receiving such comments, Esha consulted her mother as she was overwhelmed by the kind of things written about her. She revealed, “Then I had a chat with my mom. I told her that I am getting a little overwhelmed, and these things are being written. I don’t know how to handle it, but it’s affecting me.”

The actress shared that her mother, in turn, asked her to think through her decision to stay in the profession as one needs to have thick skin to survive in the industry. “Then she said, ‘Why are you here?’ I said I have always wanted to join movies and act, and this is something I have been wanting to do since I was a kid. She said, ‘Just focus on the goal. This is going to be part of it, you are my daughter, there is going to be constant comparisons. If you are going to let it affect you, then you are in the wrong profession. If you can handle it, then continue.’ So that was a golden tip that I got,” added Esha.

Esha, who made her debut in 2002, became the epitome of a bold and daring persona after her electrifying performance in Dhoom Machale, the hit song from her 2004 film Dhoom. Following the massive success of Sanjay Gandhvi’s action thriller, she appeared in several other films but struggled to make a lasting impact on the audience. After taking a break from the industry, Esha has returned to start a new inning in her career. Esha was most recently seen in Hunter: Tootega Nahi Todega.