{"id":232224,"date":"2026-01-14T06:09:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T06:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/232224\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T06:09:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T06:09:07","slug":"malaika-arora-addresses-trolling-says-item-songs-made-her-feel-empowered-at-52","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/232224\/","title":{"rendered":"Malaika Arora addresses trolling says item songs made her feel empowered at 52"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Malaika Arora recently said she felt empowered by doing item songs and had no regrets about owning that image, even though she faced trolling over the years. The actor-dancer, who featured in two popular special numbers last year, spoke about why dance remained a form of expression for her and why age was never a barrier.<\/p>\n<p>While Malaika had delivered several hit item numbers through her career, she had also often found herself at the receiving end of criticism. In 2025, she appeared in Yo Yo Honey Singh\u2019s Chillgum and Poison Baby from Aditya Sarpotdar\u2019s film Thamma. Speaking on The Namrata Zakaria Show on YouTube, Malaika addressed the judgement around her image and made it clear that she was unapologetic about her choices.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy not? Why do I need to tone it down or be apologetic about it? I mean, you get trolled for things, and many people say different things &#8211; but I don&#8217;t understand what the big deal is. Dance is an expression, enjoyed in its true glory and its true form. I feel truly blessed that I am able to do all this at 52; I must be doing something right,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Sharing how item songs made her feel, Malaika added that they <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiatoday.in\/movies\/celebrities\/story\/malaika-arora-calls-out-society-double-standards-men-move-on-women-are-judged-2830219-2025-12-03?utm_source=global-search&amp;utm_medium=global-search&amp;utm_campaign=global-search\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">gave her a sense of confidence<\/a> and strength. \u201cIt is very, very empowering. It makes me feel amazing. As I have said before, I think that if women out there take it as an example or view it as something empowering or something for them that makes them feel good, then it&#8217;s a job well done,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>From Chaiyya Chaiyya and Maahi Ve to Kaal Dhamaal, Munni Badnaam Hui and Anarkali Disco Chali, Malaika had been a part of some of Bollywood\u2019s most iconic special numbers. Even today, she continued to challenge age stereotypes and stand by her belief that confidence, expression and self-belief mattered more than public opinion.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Ends<\/p>\n<p>Published By: <\/p>\n<p>Pritinanda Behera<\/p>\n<p>Published On: <\/p>\n<p>Jan 14, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Tune In<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Malaika Arora recently said she felt empowered by doing item songs and had no regrets about owning that&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232225,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[137837,137838,137841,137834,93038,137839,137836,156,76829,27221,137842,137835,78077,409,61829,111,139,69,137840,9649],"class_list":["post-232224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-age-and-confidence","tag-anarkali-disco-chali","tag-bollywood-dance-icons","tag-bollywood-item-numbers","tag-chaiyya-chaiyya","tag-chillgum-song","tag-dance-as-expression","tag-entertainment","tag-item-songs","tag-malaika-arora","tag-malaika-arora-at-52","tag-malaika-arora-interview","tag-malaika-arora-trolls","tag-movies","tag-munni-badnaam-hui","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-poison-baby-thamma","tag-women-empowerment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}