Parineeti Chopra. Pics/Instagram, Youtube

Onkar Kulkarni (BOMBAY TIMES; September 27, 2026)

For Bollywood actresses, motherhood often comes with an unwelcome spotlight on their bodies. While becoming a mother is a personal milestone, actresses often find themselves facing public scrutiny over everything, from weight gain and post-pregnancy changes to how quickly they “bounce back”.

Katrina Kaif is the latest example to face trolling and commentary around her appearance after embracing motherhood. In a candid chat with Bombay Times, Parineeti Chopra, who welcomed son Neer last October, questions why a woman should be expected to “get back in shape” soon after childbirth.

The Amar Singh Chamkila actress says, “I have done an incredible thing of creating this human being, which not every woman in this world gets to do. So why do I have to get back in shape right after childbirth?”

‘I will get back in shape because I want to do it, not because I produced a baby’
She draws a parallel with the way people treat other changes to their appearance, pointing out that nobody expects someone to immediately undo the physical effects of a holiday. “I will get back in shape because I want to do it, not because I produced a baby and I need to get back into shape. There is this understanding that human beings need to have. If I could go on a holiday, eat a lot of food, put on weight, get tanned, get a haircut, maybe get a tattoo and come back – will you say, ‘Now your holiday is over, you need to remove your tattoo, you need to grow your hair again and remove that tan immediately?’ No, right? So when I’ve had a baby, why does the evidence of the beautiful experience need to go immediately?”

For Parineeti, the issue goes beyond body positivity and into the larger question of why women are constantly expected to explain or justify changes to their bodies. “And secondly, who are you to ask me? You cannot keep asking women this question; it is insane. Did you ask the woman who birthed you this question? No, right? Let’s not even waste time on these discussions. It is ridiculous to me.”

‘For me, family comes first; work is second to that’
The actress says that motherhood has not altered the way she approaches her career. If anything, it has reinforced a philosophy she has followed for years — balancing work and personal life, with family taking precedence.

“I’ve always lived this half-and-half life. I don’t watch content. I don’t live a very filmi life, and I don’t spend too much time at work. I do a pure 50-50. I work for like three or four months a year. The rest of the year, I’m doing other things. So that doesn’t change. In fact, it reinforces my belief – that my family comes first and work comes second to it. That will never change," says the actress who's seen in Netflix's mystery thriller Shaque: Trust No One.
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Priyanka Sharma (MID-DAY; September 24, 2026)

A heroine’s career is over as soon as she embraces motherhood. For far too long, the Hindi film industry perpetuated this misguided notion. Parineeti Chopra is glad that the myth has been debunked over and over again by her peers. And now, by her too. The actor, who was pregnant with her son Neer while shooting her debut series, Shaque: Trust No One, praised producers Siddharth P Malhotra and Sapna Malhotra for supporting her.

All it needed was an honest conversation with the makers of the Netflix thriller, said Chopra. “I told them, ‘These are certain things I’ll now have to do, and certain things I’ll have to avoid. How can we make this work?’ Here is when producers like Siddharth and Sapna matter because their minds switched to management mode. They immediately spoke to our director [Rensil D'Silva] and started creatively finding solutions because I had to do a lot of action in this show. We’ve done all of it, but in a way that was safe for me,” the actor told mid-day.

However, she is aware that not every filmmaker would be as supportive. “There are certain filmmakers who might make the mother feel guilty. It’s the craziest thing to do to her during this emotional time,” she reflected.

Chopra is tired of it all — the scrutiny that comes with actors turning mother and the speculation about their careers ending. Especially when the latter has been proved otherwise. “All of us — Alia [Bhatt], my cousin Priyanka [Chopra], Deepika [Padukone], Kareena [Kapoor Khan], and now Katrina [Kaif] — are here to prove that motherhood only inspires us to do more. It’s also got to do with the audience. The audience is not cancelling mothers, [saying] they don’t want to see us on screen anymore. Nothing else that happens in my life impacts my career. So why should having a baby impact it?”

Parineeti Chopra also appreciated Karan Johar for being supportive of Alia Bhatt, who was pregnant during the shoot of ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’.