Sanam Jung has told iBBC Urdu that she does not wear a fat-suit in her latest drama on Hum TV ‘Pyari Mona’ in which she plays the role of a plus-sized woman.
In the interview, Jung addressed the backlash the show was receiving that she wore a fat suit in some episodes.
“When I first went over, they told me that I didn’t have the right look and I had to gain 20kg in order to be perfect for the role. At first I had refused, but then when I started falling in love with Mona then I thought ‘okay we have to do this’. Because we had made a body suit for Mona which was stuffed with cotton and was quite heavy, like a thick blanket. It completely covered me, and I had to shoot in the summers. So we did multiple trials, and when I wore it, my face looked small and my body looked big. Then we decided that I have to eat more for this role. At first I gained five kilos, that was not enough. Then I gained around 7 to 8 kilos, then my director was happy. He said ‘Now you are looking just like Mona!’ I stopped going to the gym because I had to stay in a character as long as the shoots were going on, so I pushed my diet plans to the side. I ate all sorts of food, because my character was even eating on set, and I couldn’t pretend like I was eating and then spit it out from the other side. I really enjoyed the process of becoming Mona.”
Jung also opened up about the reason why she chose to do ‘Pyaari Mona’, revealing that she had also faced the same struggles that her character did. Originally, Jung had rejected the drama, but when a year later she again offered the role, she decided to do it.
“This is my story. I have been through it. As in not literally with her family. But with society, and the people, I have gone through all of it. Other than that, I also thought there are so many people who are going through the same issue. So for them, and for myself I have found such an important story to tell… I felt it was an important message because we will keep doing ordinary plays with the boy and girl and they fall in love. But this was a different, message-oriented play. So I read it and I fell in love with Mona.”
You can watch the full interview here:
