Neha Dhupia: Those Bold Scenes From Julie Wouldn't Be A Big Deal Today | Women's Day Wonder Women EXCLUSIVE Series

Neha Dhupia was an outsider who has lived her life as authentically as possible. From the ramp to the silver screen, Neha's has been quite intriguing, to say the least. Whether it was Julie or Phas Gaye Re Obama, Neha chose to go the unconventional way. She also dealt with all the controversies and trolling that came her way patiently but she never stopped speaking her mind. For our special Women's Day series Wonder Women, we sat down with her to discuss her journey full of highs, lows and some great moments in between.

I was getting trolled at a time when there was no social media. But, I had to live in that moment. My debut Hindi film was called Qayamat, which is a mainstream commercial film. Julie was my second film. I had done one mainstream film and now I had an author-backed role. About two or three scenes were considered to be bold in Julie. I didn't think today those scenes would be an issue as they did back then. There was this poster where I was lying down flaunting my back. People are doing it all the time for photoshoots, so how does it make me any different? Today you see men and women flaunting their bodies and looking beautiful. There's acceptance. But why did my choice hurt and offend? To a point where I started to believe it was the end of my career.

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That's when I realised that you're the only one who can decide what's good and bad for you. Very early in my career, I made two such diverse choices through which I learnt that there is all kinds of work for everyone. You are defined by the choices you make and you've got to be careful. I must have been around 24 back then, I've never spoken about it since then because I've never been honest enough to tell myself that it was a life choice that may have affected me. But now I can say 'I don't want to change anything about my life'. Okay, maybe something... Maybe I should have done Julie a little later in my career.

But, as a person, I'm very thick-skinned. The mother or the wife or the daughter in me is not. I would get extremely offended if somebody comments about my family. But if they're going to take a jab at me, I sleep it off.

When this happened, I was extremely stressed out. I questioned myself because people passed judgements. It's not like the film did badly. It was something of a solo hit. But, the way people reacted, I was like, will I have to pack my bags and go? Soon after, I got Chup Chup Ke and then I moved on. Then there was De Dana Dan, Singh is King, I just saw more colour, made good friends on set, and the world was interesting again.

When I was 15 kilos lighter than what I am today, someone looked at me and said, you need to lose seven to eight kilos if you want to do this role. I asked 'how long is my role'? I feel physical changes or such requirements make sense when it is related to the character - like if it's an action film, you need to be agile. But those were not the reasons why women were being asked to lose weight. I'm so happy that the world has become a far more inclusive place today because there's room for different kinds of actors. When I joined the business, there was a stereotypical definition. Aur sab ek jaise dikhte the. And if you don't fit into that mould then you're not good enough. Now everyone is so different and diverse. Casting is so real today.

I've been fired for reasons like 'she's got a sharp face' or for not wanting to lose seven or ten more kilos off of the body that I had already thought was super fit. When I was pregnant, I was fired from a show that I was on. There was no news of that show being shot for the next eight months. But when I revealed to them that I was pregnant, they fired me. I said 'But you're not shooting now'. They were like 'No, we don't want to work with you because of it'.

You need to be at a level of maturity and confidence to understand that life and the universe have different plans. I honestly don't sweat the small stuff anymore. I made some great friends here. I really enjoyed spending time with Katrina Kaif on the sets of Singh Is King, we got along so well. I really enjoy spending time with Kareena Kapoor. I still have really good friendships with both of them. I can text them, talk to them about anything.

I would tell her - you do you!