Annu Kapoor may be a veteran in the industry, but that doesn’t excuse what he said. Referring to Tamannaah Bhatia as having a “milky body” during a promotional interview wasn’t appreciative. It was crude and disrespectful.
It’s about basic decency. Tamannaah is a working professional and an actor who has built her career across various industries with consistency and focus. Reducing her to how her body looks, especially in public, is not only inappropriate — it reinforces exactly the kind of mindset the industry claims to be moving past.
There’s a way to admire someone’s performance. You talk about their craft, their energy on screen, the way they carry a role. What Kapoor chose to highlight wasn’t any of that. It was a remark that objectified her, wrapped in the thin cover of flattery.
What makes it worse is the imbalance in power. When a senior male actor comments on this, it doesn’t just affect one person. It tells every young woman watching that being talked about like this is part of the job, no matter how far you’ve come.
Tamannaah has always carried herself with great poise and grace. She didn’t ask for this attention, and she certainly doesn’t need to “take it lightly” because it came from someone older or more experienced. That’s not respect, that’s indulgence.
Annu Kapoor’s words weren’t a slip. It was a showdown of how easily women in cinema are still spoken about as visuals, rather than as individuals. And that needs to stop.
No more excuses. No more passing comments. And no more hiding behind age or legacy.
This is not how you speak about a colleague. Period.
