7 Oct – Two years after announcing her departure from showbiz, former Bollywood actress Zaira Wasim is back on Instagram with a new photo of herself. The 20 year-old former actress, who became famous for her roles in Aamir Khan's movies, "Dangal" and "Secret Superstar", posted a photo of herself in a hijab for the first time with her back towards the camera, writing, "The warm October sun."
"Five years ago, I made a decision that changed my life forever. As I stepped my foot in Bollywood, it opened doors of massive popularity for me. I started to become the prime candidate of public attention, I was projected as the gospel of the idea of success and was often identified as a role model for the youth. However, that's never something that I set out to do or become, especially with regards to my ideas of success and failure, which I had just started to explore and understand," Zaira said in the lengthy post. "For a very long time now, it has felt like I have struggled to become someone else. As I had just started to explore and make sense of the things to which I dedicated my time, efforts and emotions and tried to grab hold of a new lifestyle, it was only for me to realise that though I may fit here perfectly, I do not belong here. This field indeed brought a lot of love, support, and applause my way, but what it also did was to lead me to a path of ignorance, as I silently and unconsciously transitioned out of 'imaan' (faith). While I continued to work in an environment that consistently interfered with my 'imaan', my relationship with my religion was threatened," she said. Then in November 2020, Zaira made a request for fans to take down her pictures from social media as she tries to start a new chapter in her life.