The box office performance of the film Bharat Bhhagya Viddhaata may have been underwhelming, but actor Girija Oak Godbole believes that while filmmaking is a business, actors should not be preoccupied with box office numbers.

She acknowledges that the box office is crucial for the industry as “everybody has to take home a sum of money”, but insists a film’s commercial performance should never dictate an actor’s approach to their craft. “We can’t shy away from the fact that movie making is an industry and it’s a business. So yes, box office does matter to a film because finally it has to sustain the people that are involved in it,” she shares.

However, Girija draws a clear distinction between a film’s commercial outcome and an actor’s job: “Does it matter to me as an actor? No, because box office comes after I’ve finished my job. When I’m working on a film, box office is so far away from me at that point in time that it actually doesn’t affect me at all.”

She further says that a film’s box office performance can never be predicted. “I’m still going to do my job the way I see fit, and then that’s slightly beyond my purview because it’s (box office performance) is a reward that you can hope for, but you can never really predict. So is it connected? Yes, because I’m also part of the same industry. It pays my bills. Box office does. But does it affect my job? No,” she ends.

Over the last few days, social media, especially X, is abuzz with photos of an actress, wearing a beautiful blue sari and an infectious smile. What started with clips from her interview with an online portal and people asking who she was, soon snowballed into the title of ‘National Crush’ for Girija Oak, an actress who has been in the industry for over 20 years. Girija, who was recently seen in Inspector Zende with Manoj Bajpayee, finds the attention amusing.

“We actors love attention. That’s why we do what we do. But, if I had to put this newfound love from social media for me in one word, yes, it really is amusing,” she smiles.

Girija’s work portfolio is diverse, ranging from Marathi and Hindi films, TV shows and plays, including musicals. But getting national recognition via social media wasn’t on her bingo card for the year. That said, she’s hopeful about more opportunities now.

“I have been getting calls from various people asking if I’d work in their projects. Social media has opened the doors for sure. Now I am just waiting, and hoping, that this trending tag converts into good work coming my way,” she says.

Acknowledging that many got introduced to her thanks to her becoming a sensation, Girija adds, “There was a set of people asking - 'Who is she?' and another set schooling them on my work profile. Like I said, it’s been an amusing few days.”

While she's been showered with immense love on social media, Girija has also had a taste of the bad side of online platforms. Along with images of her now viral 'Blue saree woman', morphed, obscene photos of her have also hit social media. The actress addressed this in a video posted on Instagram too. 

Speaking to us, she adds, "People are justifying the morphed pics saying if I have done intimate scenes on screen, why should I have a problem with these morphed pics? Unfortunately, that's the kind of approach we have when it comes to a woman's agency - what she has consented to and what is being done without consent, just for the sake of titillation by miscreants."

Girija adds that many still don't understand what consent means. "Somebody morphing my face on obscene pics, and me willingly subscribing to doing an intimate scene on screen are two different things," she says, adding, "Just reading through comments on social media tells you what kind of mentality you are dealing with. The entitlement with which men come and say that if I have done an intimate scene this is bound to happen... It's pitiful."

Yet, there’s one stereotype she wishes to see breaking soon. “Most Marathi actors are still considered only for Maharashtrian characters. It’s something that boxes us and I wish that changes,” she says. 

Recalling an incident where she had to face this typecasting, Girija adds, “A few years ago, someone got in touch with me for the role of a house help. The role wasn’t the issue. I asked them if they had seen my photos because the character had to look a certain way.”

The person told Girija that they didn’t have to because she was a Marathi actress. “That association was something I have still not understood. I feel an actor should be considered for a role based on their skill, not because of some preconceived notions or stereotypes,” she adds.

Among the loudest cheerleaders of Girija in the last couple of weeks is actor Gulshan Devaiah, who she will soon be seen with in the show Therapy Sherapy. The actress had spoken about Gulshan’s professional attitude and how he made her feel comfortable during the shoot of an intimate scene, in a now viral clip from her interview to The Lallantop.

Speaking about their equation, Girija shares, “Gulshan was among the first ones to tell me that I was trending on X. In fact, he even posted a sweet note for me. We both are friends off the screen too and working with him was a fantastic experience.” Gulshan also called out an imposter account on X that was pretending to be the actress'. The account was later relabelled as a 'fan account'.

If you’ve scrolled through X in the past few days, you’d have come across the ‘blue saree wali’ that social media is crushing on. Meet actor Girija Oak Godbole, who is being touted ‘India’s answer’ to American actor Sydney Sweeney and Italian model Monica Bellucci by excited fans on social media. She has been working in Marathi and Hindi cinema for two decades.

Speaking about going viral for the first time, she tells us, “I am amused! My phone started buzzing like crazy on Sunday evening. I was in rehearsals for my play and couldn’t take calls. Suddenly, all my friends were messaging me, ‘Do you know what’s happening on X?’”

The actor adds, “One sent me a post debating if it was (actor) Priya Bapat or me! Then my devar told me some cheap handles picked up my pictures and there was a whole ‘bhabhi lover’ scene happening. Some pages sexualized me. But Marathi fans said, ‘You’ve only just discovered her! We’ve known her for years’.”

As memes flooded X, Girija took it in stride: “At the cost of sounding wise and old, it’s a trend; it’ll come and go. The work I do is here to stay. If people discover my work now, that makes me happy.”

Despite some of the more explicit content, her family, she says, wasn’t fazed: “Fortunately, I come from a film family. My father’s an actor, my father-in-law is a producer, my husband’s a filmmaker. We understand you can’t control perceptions. I never have to go out of my way to explain, because we’re all aware of the nature of the beast. If you put yourself on a pedestal, people will talk.”