MUMBAI: Indian actress Kangana Ranaut has advised women to focus on building their careers before marriage, expressing concern over the increasing number of bride deaths linked to dowry demands in India.
In an Instagram story, the Bollywood actress and politician said heartbreaking reports involving young married women continue to emerge daily, including cases of educated women pleading with their parents to rescue them from toxic environments before tragedies occur.
Kangana criticized what she described as a social mindset in which daughters are often abandoned after marriage, leaving many women vulnerable to abuse and harassment.
Referring to the pressures created by social media and lifestyle industries, she told young women that career independence is more important than relationships or marriage.
“You have to become your own hero. No one is coming to save you,” she wrote, adding that a woman’s identity and achievements matter more than whom she marries.
Her remarks came after the death of 33-year-old actress Tvesha Sharma from Noida, who was found dead earlier this month at her husband’s residence in Bhopal.
Police have registered a case against Sharma’s husband, lawyer Samarth Singh, and mother-in-law Giri Bala Singh on charges of dowry harassment and abetment to suicide following a complaint filed by the actress’s parents.
