I look up to Madhuri Dixit Nene: Sara Khan on balancing personal and professional life

Actress Sara Khan considers Bollywood star Madhuri Dixit Nene as her idol when it comes to maintaining a balance between her personal and professional life. She said, “I admire how Madhuri Dixit protected her personal life from the public glare, she got away from it completely.”

“She is so beautiful and talented, and I always look up to her in terms of how she maintained her career and personal life so well and, even now, when she is back in this industry, she has this balance with where she needs to talk about what she needs to talk about,” Sara added.

However, the “Sapna Babul Ka… Bidaai” actress agrees that for a public figure it is very difficult to protect their lives from the media. “For an actor, yes, it is very tough to shield their personal life because once you’re in this industry, everyone considers you to be their source of entertainment, whether it is something personal or private, or it is related to this industry. Once you are in this industry, you are a public figure. And we are called public figures, because everything is out there. So it is impossible to hide anything from the public and the media,” she said.

So where do you draw the line? “I have grown up in this industry. I never knew, and I had nobody to tell me how to be there. I used to say whatever came to my mind and do whatever I believed. But now, times have changed. I believe you should keep your family, your private life to yourself, because it is not for anyone’s entertainment. Your profession is such where you’re entertaining people by singing, dancing, acting, which is enough. I don’t think I would like to talk about my personal life more or showcase it out loud,” she said.

“Also, to be honest, we are no one to decide what to reveal, and what not to reveal there, because even if you try to do so, things will eventually come out. So it’s better to live a life where it is okay if people get to know things, and it still doesn’t harm you or affect you,” Sara added.

She believes that social media has bridged the gap between an actor and their fans, which also gives them a sense of security. However, she is not one to share every detail.

“Actors used to hide their personal life before when there was just one source which was news. Now actors have their own handles on social media which they use actively and talk about their personal lives, and feel more connected to the public, to the audience, which gives them a sense of security. Earlier, I too used to feel the same way, but now I believe my personal life is my personal life and I don’t want to talk about what I’m doing, where I’m going, whom I’m meeting etc. This change happened in me with time, but yes there are people who are okay with it and we are nobody to judge. It’s their life however they want to connect with the public, how they want to be there in the news, whether through social media or through news channels. It’s completely their choice and life,” she said.

Sharing her take on the current trend where new parents are revealing their baby’s face and talk openly about them, while earlier it used to be away from the media’s gaze for long, she said, “Earlier social media wasn’t there. It didn’t exist and today if you see Instagram or Snapchat, social media is all over the place and it is like a trend now that you talk about your personal activities and people actually wait for it.”

“I feel it is very open now because this is in fashion, it’s the current obsession,” Sara concluded.