- Iranian actor Mandana Karimi held a protest by herself at Mumbai’s famous Bandstand.
- Mandana took a sign to the Bandra Bandstand and stood there for hours, talking to people and telling them what was going on in Iran.
- Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, was killed by Iran’s morality police.
Saturday, Iranian actor Mandana Karimi held a protest by herself at Mumbai’s famous Bandstand. To talk about the movement for women’s rights that is going on in her home country. Mandana took a sign to the Bandra Bandstand and stood there for hours, talking to people and telling them what was going on in Iran. Since Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, was killed by Iran’s morality police, there have been many protests against the laws that govern women in Iran.
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Mandana posted a 17-minute video of her protest by herself on Instagram Reels on Sunday. At the start of the video, she is standing alone in front of the famous landmark while holding a sign with information about what is going on in Iran. In the video, she talks to people walking by and to a group of students, who also briefly talk to her. She captioned the video, “For Iran, for my mother’s tears, for my brother’s broken face and heart, for sleepless nights, for freedom for life.”
Speaking about the motivation behind her protest, Mandana said, “On October 1, people across the world organised a Pan Global Protest Day to stand in solidarity for Iran. 150 cities worldwide stood in protest but I couldn’t find India on that list. So, I decided to organise one in the city. The responses I received from people were disappointing. They ranged from ‘I have to speak to my PR team’, to ‘we are just two of us, what can we do?’, ‘It’s better to post online about what’s happening back home, and give interviews”, ‘I have family commitments’, ‘I don’t care, I don’t live in Iran anymore’, ‘I will put a story for you’. These were just some of the words that left me hollow and broken.”
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She then added that she decided to go at it alone as a result. “I was reminded of Mahsa Amini. She was alone as well. She didn’t know anyone in Tehran and that she is the reason for this movement. Saturday was important to show our people back home in Iran that we are with you. So, I went out alone, held Mahsa’s name, played Sherveen’s song and explained to the few who gathered about the current situation in my country. It was overwhelming, but I felt part of something bigger,” she added.
Tehran is where Mandana was born and raised. She moved to India in 2010 so she could work as a model. She’s been in movies like Roy, Bhaag Johnny, and Thar since then. She became even more well-known when she was on Bigg Boss in 2015 and 2016 and Lock Upp earlier this year. Mandana has also shown support for the Iranian protesters by posting videos of herself cutting her hair and talking about the situation on Instagram. Since they started two weeks ago, the violent protests in Iran have killed 92 people.
