Hina Khan on trolls: I post a pic and move on; who has the time to read three thousand comments?

The actor often posts her workout photos on Instagram. One such recent post got a barrage of nasty comments, but Hina says that she has learnt to shrug them off — that her time on Bigg Boss taught her not to hold a grudge.

For eight long years, she was a television bahu always in a sari, and now that she is not, Hina Khan has let out her inner glam diva, with a love for fashionable gym gear. And so, of course, the trolls have something to say about it.

Actor Hina Khan feels that there’s no point in even hitting back at trolls, as no one can stoop to their level. (Photo: Yogen Shah)

Recently, Hina posted her workout photos on Instagram and was trolled mercilessly with comments such as “never seen a woman try so hard to show off her body like you do”, “flop, cheap and disgusting” and so on. There was a particularly nasty series of comments from one susmita8458, with the Instagram handle @shilpa_shinde_official. (Incidentally, Shilpa Shinde, also a TV actor, was a rival of Hina on Bigg Boss 11.) This troll was decidedly more vicious than the rest, calling Hina “hypopotemus (sic)”, “lusty aunty” and so on.

Asked about her reaction to the relentless trolling, Hina says, “I ignore [it]. Trust me, the only way to deal with this is not to talk about it, and not show them that you got affected. Anyway, that’s the last thing I’d get affected by.”

But does she read the comments on her social media posts? “Who has the time to read two or three thousand comments on a picture? I post a picture and move on. I might stop by and see how many likes a picture has got and if people loved it, but I don’t read too much into the comments,” says Hina, who also did the reality show Khatron Ke Khiladi.

She admits that initially, she used to respond to some of these comments, but soon she realised that it was all futile. “When I came out of Bigg Boss, I gave it off to a couple of them — who tried to sound mean — in a very nice and decent way. And I felt really nice. But then I was like, ‘There’s no point.’ You do something; they will do more than that. They are baseless. I am somebody and I’ve earned it. So, why do I spoil it? It’s better not to say [anything]. The best thing is to still your tongue and not say a word. And I believe ‘ignorance is bliss’ is said for a reason,” says the actor.

She asserts that it’s high time people stopped giving voice to trolls by writing about them. “Most of the times, I get to know about these comments when I read these articles online. And I feel when these trolls get written about and their handles get publicity, they feel even more empowered and encouraged to continue what they are doing,” says Hina.

It was her Bigg Boss stint that taught her not to hold a grudge against anyone, she shares. “When we came out of that house, there were very few contestants who chose not to speak ill about anybody. And I learned [from that] that I wouldn’t hold a grudge and I wouldn’t hate, even if someone hates me. The same holds true for these trolls,” signs off Hina.

Interact with the author on Twitter/@monikarawal