Supari Studio’s have launched a new video ‘Fit is Not A Body Type’ to highlight issues of body shaming and to encoutrage acceptance of the difference between body types through their Vitamin Stree channel.
Vitamin Stree is a content channel that focuses on cultural, political, artistic and ideological perspectives that are shaping the lives of women in contemporary India. Through objective analysis, in-depth research, original reporting and inspirational storytelling, their goal is to offer unique assessments to issues that matter most to the Indian woman of today.
They told us:
“We have all struggled with body image issues at some point in our lives, and the illusion of what makes a “perfect body” is usually the reason for that. ‘Fit is Not A Body Type’ is a celebration of active women everywhere, irrespective of their age, shape or body size. Our fitness anthem features 46 athletes and 14 different activities!”
There are a number of people in the video including Neha Tahiliani:
“From being a girl who was bullied in school for being overweight, to a confident woman who gives zero f**ks (check out how she deals with trolls on Instagram), Neha has come a long way. She loves weight lifting (we’ve seen her do a 70kg dead-lift in front of our own eyes), and works out more for the joy she gets out of pushing her limits rather than to just to lose weight. But don’t be fooled by her hardcore demeanor, Neha’s actually quite camera shy & a is closeted singer!”
or Anjali Malhotra:
An entrepreneur who started her own customised gifting portal – 10 am, Anjali credits a lot of her skill sets to what she learnt on the football field. From leadership to being a team player, Anjali is the perfect example of someone who’s takeaway from sports is a lot more than just a fit body.”
We spoke to Tara Kapur, Head – original content (non-fiction) at Supari Studiosabout the importance of the campaign:
“Issues with body image is something that almost every single person has suffered from at some point in their lives. Everyone has some sort of insecurity about their own bodies, and believe that fitness is about getting that so-called “ideal body.” But that’s not the case, there are countless men and women who are fit even though they have different ages, shapes and sizes. These insecurities are taken to the next level because of how rampant body shaming is online. Especially now that a lot of people post their fitness regimes on platforms such as Instagram & Facebook, it’s become so easy to write a message and insult anyone. Trolls have no filters and say whatever they feel like. Given that Vitamin Stree is a women-centric channel, we wanted to create a piece that tackles these issues. These aren’t problems people should have to deal with on a day to day basis, and ‘Fit is Not a Body Type’ addresses that. ”
Tara also explained the thinking behind the campaign:
“The primary objective of this video is first and foremost to create a fitness anthem for anyone who has struggled with body issues and trolls. We wanted to do this in a manner that was not preachy, but still manages to get the message across. So we created a music video, featuring 46 athletes & fitness enthusiasts who break stereotypes about body types. We collaborated with Su Real & Tanya Nambiar to create a song with the aim to motivate women across the world. Along with this we also decided to tell the stories of the athletes we featured, on our Facebook and Instagram pages, we have put out 15 videos talking about these athletes stories, as well as 39 posters highlighting the fitness journeys of each of these women. We don’t believe this should be restricted to just the women in the video, and as a result, we have asked people to join the #FINABT movement, by sharing their workout pictures with us. We will convert these images into a ‘Fit Is Not A Body Type’ poster with the same message. We also wanted to drive some attention to Vitamin Stree as a whole, and the type of content we create, ‘Fit is Not a Body Type’, is a video around fitness and body image, but we also create a lot of content pertaining to urban Indian women.”
