Exclusive! Divyanka Tripathi on getting trolled for Bade Achhe Lagte Hain and Khatron Ke Khiladi

Television actress Divyanka Tripathi Dahiya has been part of a number of fiction shows. But currently it's her stint on the reality show Khatron Ke Khiladi that the audience is enjoying. The last few days, however, have been difficult for her because of the trolling that has been taking place. In an exclusive chat, Divyanka spoke to us about this...

Divyanka says, "I have been trolled for the past few days based on half information. The first one was concerned with me being a part of the show Bade Achhe Lagte Hain. And the second was pertaining to Saurabh Raaj Jain's eviction in Khatron Ke Khiladi. Here too, only half of my byte was shown on TV where I was saying in sarcasm that it is a good strategy to evict someone. Fans may have thought that I wanted him out. I understand content has to be edited in a show but in this case, people saw just that bit which and drew conclusions."

The actress says that she comes across a lot of trolls on a daily basis which she chooses not to ignore. "Some say you should ignore the trolls because at some point they will get bored and stop. But I think the damage by not responding is far more. The right message should go out at the right time,” she says.

Divyanka says it reminds her of school days. “I feel trolling is like a bullying culture which we used to face in school. Now that is in our work place too and it comes out in some way or the other. It happens a lot more online because people know that their faces cannot be seen, their indenities are not known and hence they can verbalise whatever they want to without even understanding a situation,” says Divyanka.

Divyanka wants people to know that actors too have hearts and they get upset too. She explains, “The trolling starts and it continues without people having adequate information or knowledge. They actually forget that there is a real person that they are talking about and these things will affect that person mentally and emotionally. Especially when it comes to celebrities people feel that we are objects who come and go on screen. But we too have emotions and we get affected by these things.”

Since she believes in not ignoring the trolls, there's a way in which she deals with it. She reveals, “While responding, I keep in mind that I have to be respectful because maybe they are doing this because they are passionate about a particular topic. I try to step into their shoes and understand what they are feeling. Maybe they are not able to control their emotions and that is why they do such things."

Divyanka says she likes to see the silver lining in every situation. She says, “These situations do affect me as I am a sensitive. But with each troll or any setback in life, I learn something new. I am a quick learner and I think I evolve that way. I was upset for two days and then I got up and posted about celebrating trolls. One day went in addressing the issues and the second day I was understanding what was happening. I would like to tell people that they shouldn’t ignore those who troll them. Hate speech and abusive language shouldn’t go unaddressed. It's not fun because it causes damage. Trolls are complicated maybe in real life too. Dealing with them is difficult. People should report it if it gets really bad. I too have done it in the past."

Incidentally, she was trolled during her wedding and things got really bad then, after which she approached the cyber police. Recounting that period, Divyanka says, “I remember during my wedding I came across multiple accounts created using my name. These profiles had ugly images of me. At that time I had to go the cyber police for help. I shared links and screenshots with them and as soon as they started tracking, the trolls stopped."