Manushi Chhillar on her mission to raise awareness on menstrual health, ‘Now times have changed…’

In addition to being an actress, former Miss World Manushi Chhillar is also a women’s health advocate- something which she achieves through her non-profit initiative, “Project Shakti”.

As part of the initiative, she paid a visit to a Mumbai school to spread awareness about menstrual hygiene and distributed sanitary pads.

In an attempt to break the taboo around menstruation, Chhillar said, “Aaj humare paas yeh saadhan hai ki hun pad pehen sakte hai, hum kaam kar sakte hai, hum school aa sakte hai. Lekin Pehle yeh nahi hote the. Abhi khade hoke kaam karne mein aasani hai. Pehle kitchen pura zameen pe hota hai toh aap baithke kaam karte the. Toh uss waqt yeh kahan jaata tha ki aap rest karein, aap iss Tarah ka kaam naa kare jisse aapko aur zyada dikkat ho, aur zyada dard ho, aur zyada takleef ho. Isliye kehte the ki aap kitchen ka kaam naa karein. Ab samay badal gaya hai. Lekin woh jo rules lagaye gaye the, woh abhi tak follow kiye jaate hai. (Today we have the means to get menstrual pads – we can work and can also go to school. But that wasn’t the case before. Now it’s easy to work while standing. Earlier, the kitchen used to be on the ground, so you would have to sit to work. At that time, it was said that you should rest, you shouldn’t do work that causes more difficulty, increased pain, or discomfort. That’s why it was said that you should not do kitchen work. Now times have changed. But the rules that were set back then are still being followed.)

Not just now, but during the COVID-19 lockdown as well, Chhillar had requested the state governments to provide free sanitary pads and essentials such as iron supplements, to those females who were unable to afford it.

On the professional front, Chhillar has two promising projects in the lineup – “Maalik” opposite Rajkummar Rao and “Tehran” alongside John Abraham.