Mandana Karimi Reveals Why She Quit Bollywood; Says 'The Industry Runs On Who Your Family Is...'

Iranian actor Mandana Karimi, who shot to fame after her participation in the reality show Bigg Boss and her supporting role in Kya Kool Hain Hum 3, recently announced her decision to leave Bollywood. Citing concerns about her mental well-being, she explained in an interview the reasons behind her departure, highlighting the issues of “unhealthy” conditions, lack of respect, and instances of harassment that she encountered during her ten-year tenure in the film and entertainment field.

“I don’t care about the fame, I don’t care about the money I used to earn. I used to, when I was younger, but not anymore,” she told Shivani Pau. Mandana revealed that she reached her breaking point a few years ago when she chose to speak out against a director for sexual harassment. After learning that another woman had gone through a similar experience with the same filmmaker, she took the decision to take a stand. She also said that the #MeToo movement hasn’t brought much positive change in India and peaking out has done more harm than good for her.

Mandana shared that her frustration grew as she was labeled as “difficult to work with” simply because she didn’t agree with everything she was told to do. She shared that people would often criticise her for not understanding Indian culture, which only made her more annoyed. “It’s an industry that, if I had a child right now, I would be worried if my daughter wants to be a part of Bollywood. The industry in India is very different. It runs on who you know, who your father is, who your family is. Yes, later on, it depends on how good you are and how talented you are, but it’s very competitive,” she said, adding that she tried to find good people to work with, but unfortunately, didn’t come across many. “I’m not saying that everyone is the same, there are some amazing people that I worked with… Unfortunately, in my career, I didn’t have that many of those people. I had people who were very disrespectful, they treat you like, ‘Oh, she’s a pretty girl, she doesn’t have support, we can do whatever we want’, she said.