10 Bollywood celebrities raising their voices for social issues

India is a country obsessed with its movie stars. Every move of a Bollywood celebrity is closely followed by the entire nation. With such power and position comes a responsibility towards the society. However, this responsibility is realised only by few. Here are 10 celebrities from the Bollywood who have embraced social causes and have been speaking about them.

Abhay Deol

Abhay has directly made his stance on fairness, and fairness products. He recently uploaded a Facebook post condemning the advertisements and the celebrities endorsing such products. He urged people to not buy into the flawed notions that a fair complexion makes someone better.

Deepika Padukone

Deepika has spoken of her battle with depression on various public platforms. She stated that her primary reason for addressing this openly was to raise awareness among people about mental health issues. She recently launched an NGO ‘The Live Love Laugh Foundation’ which aims to spread awareness about mental health, and help out those who need it. According to NDTV Movies, she said,

If we are a nation that’s the most depressed in the world, there’s definitely a much, much larger issue that we all need to sort of focus on and work towards.

Kalki Koechlin

Kalki has time and again used her acting prowess and influence to talk about gender inequality and gender violence. Along with VJ Juhi Pandey, she came out with a satirical video ‘It’s Your Fault’, where they took a different route to discuss the plight of rape victims. She also used the public platform India Today Conclave 2017, to perform a solo act highlighting women abuse. According to Vagabomb, in one of her interviews, she said,

No gender is fairer than the other. Women are not doormats. We are equivalent to men. It is just that we have different bodies and different biological needs. We have capacities which should be celebrated and rewarded in the society.

Ranvir Shorey

Ranvir spoke of breaking the age-old gender roles set by the society. With women coming out and donning multiple responsibilities, he mentioned the need of men breaking the stereotypes associated with them. He said this in context of the responsibilities he took on as a father when his ex-wife Konkona Sen Sharma had to give more of her time to work. As per India Times, he said,

With women stepping out and taking on new roles, the time has come for men to step out of their stereotypes too. I’m more patient now and my cooking has improved.

Nandita Das

An excellent actress and an even better human being, Nandita never shies away from expressing her opinion against any kind of injustice. She has also spoken about the stereotypes that surround skin colour. She was the face of the campaign ‘Dark is Beautiful’, addressing the prejudices against dark skin.

Dia Mirza

This actress with a heart of gold has been actively promoting and creating awareness about environmental issues. The environmentalist has been appointed as the brand ambassador of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI). She is also involved with the Andhra Pradesh government in spreading awareness about HIV/AIDS and female foeticide.

Milind Soman

This famous supermodel and actor is the man behind the marathon conducted exclusively for women i.e. ‘Pinkathon’. This marathon is conducted essentially to create awareness regarding fitness in women and breast cancer.

Priyanka Chopra

In her own words, Priyanka believes taking her ‘social responsibility’ as a human being seriously. From being made UNICEF’s goodwill ambassador to advocating health, education and safety for girls from all over the world, she contributes to several social causes. She has used the public platform to address issues like body shaming, and talk about the misconception around feminism and what it truly means.

Sonam Kapoor

Sonam might have gone wrong with her slip-ups in few interviews, but her open letters, and stance on various issues is winning many hearts. She recently spoke at length in her open letter ‘I didn’t wake up like this’ about the unrealistic expectations around celebrity flawlessness.

Shabana Azmi

Apart from being an extraordinarily talented actress, Shabana is known for her social activism as well. She is passionate about children and women’s rights, and is not afraid of speaking about a social cause she truly believes in. She recently supported the ‘Not in My Name’ protests held all over the country against mob violence and cow vigilantism.

Read more: 10 Bollywood celebrities with social causes