Zareen Khan, during a recent Ask Me Anything session on Reddit, spoke about doing the erotic thriller Hate Story 3 (2015), which was one of her biggest hits. She said she did it only because she needed the money.

The 36-year-old, who didn’t have a “filmy father” in the industry, tells us, “I would’ve been okay if I came from generational wealth, but I had to fend for myself and take care of my family. Thank God, I got the song Character Dheela in Ready (2011) and later a role in Housefull 2 (2012), which got me bits here and there. But [those movies] still didn’t do for me what Hate Story 3 did [in terms of] success and appreciation. I did bold scenes [onscreen], but at least I wasn’t doing something off-screen or selling my body. I wouldn’t have had a peaceful sleep at night if I did that.”

Coming from an “orthodox Muslim background”, Khan did have a lot of reservations about going ahead with Hate Story 3. “I had many thoughts and questions, but at the end of the day, I had to fend for my family. But the kind of things (bold scenes) we are now seeing on screen, what I did in the film was nothing [in comparison]! I got a lot of appreciation for my role, but many people in the industry said, ‘She doesn’t know how to act, so she’s shedding her clothes’,” says Khan, adding, “To all those bigwigs and makers, I want to say, ‘Today, you are making actors and actresses do much more than what I did at that time’. I am very confused how this industry works.”