‘Dhamaal 4’ actor Anjali Anand has often found her height and body type limiting the kind of roles that come her way. In an interview with SCREEN, Anjali spoke about plus-size actors often being reduced to comic relief in films. She also revealed how Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani ended up putting her in a box.
Anjali Anand on facing challenges with roles
After her stint on TV, Anjali Anand’s very first outing on the big screen was Akshay Kumar’s Bell Bottom. Talking about that role, Anjali said, “I was in ‘Bell Bottom’ only so that one terrorist could fall on top of me and get caught in the film.”Explaining how such mockery hurts at times, she added, “Such roles get offered to me because I am fat, and it hurts when people just try to make fun of it. They are not even seeing if I am a good actor or not. They just judge me on my body. According to them, I don’t fit the standards, but then, for them, even Deepika Padukone and Aishwarya Rai are not good enough. Even Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan have faced criticism. These are just people who want to have an opinion just because they can. Their belief won’t change your reality.”
Anjali Anand on her role in ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’
In ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’, Anjali’s character stood up for herself against body shaming. Talking about that role, Anjali said, “My character taking a stand for herself against body shaming in ‘Rocky aur Rani Ki Prem Kahaani’. It was not something that had happened before. Earlier, a fat girl was just a fat girl in a film, who was only eating large portions of food. She was only there for comic relief, where someone was falling on her, or she was having a burger. Nobody had seen a fat person having a voice. When so much attention comes my way, I feel scared, because even the bad people will talk about me and troll me.”She continued, reflecting on the difference between her on-screen roles and her real life, “In real life, Anjali has never needed to take that stand; no one has the guts to come and tell me anything. Nobody sees my weight first. In my private life, people just praise me for the person I am. ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’ changed the industry’s approach, but that also put me in a box which I tried to change with ‘Dabba Cartel’ and ‘Raat Jawan Hai.‘”
Anjali Anand on trolling for ‘Dhamaal 4’
Anjali Anand is currently being trolled and criticised for being part of ‘Dhamaal 4’, which features several fat-shaming jokes. Talking about the same, she said, “People often say that to me, that how can you do a film like this, when you are so vocal and stand against people making fun of somebody. But this is the society, people are still making fun of me after I have proven myself. People are still trolling me online. They are commenting, ‘Kis bhains ko le liye'(Which buffalo did they cast? ), ‘Riteish ke kya din aa gaye the ki isko iss heroine ke saath kaam karna pad raha hai'(What terrible days had come for Riteish that he had to work with this heroine? ), ‘Industry ke kya din aa gaye, heroine nahi bachi hai kya'(What terrible days have come upon the industry, are there no heroines left? ), these are the comments. Until society changes, scripts won’t change.”
More about ‘Dhamaal 4’
Directed by veteran comedy filmmaker Indra Kumar, ‘Dhamaal 4’ features the return of fan-favorites Riteish Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi, Jaaved Jaaferi and Sanjay Mishra led by Ajay Devgn and fresh franchise additions like Ravi Kishan and Anjali Anand. According to Sacnilk, the film has minted Rs 92 crore on the global front in just three days since its release on July 10, 2026. Despite its box office success, the film sparked a controversy online over weight-targeted jokes directed at actress Anjali Anand, prompting director Indra Kumar to publicly defend the screenplay by clarifying that the humor carries absolute narrative context within the character arcs rather than reducing the actress to her appearance.
