Television actress Reem Shaikh faced backlash after her reaction to a paparazzo's question about the Ahmedabad plane crash went viral. The incident occurred on June 12, when a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner operating from Ahmedabad to London’s Gatwick Airport crashed seconds after takeoff at around 1:38 p.m., claiming over 200 lives. The actress was called out for being 'ignorant' for not reacting to the Air India crash while on the set of Laughter Chefs 2.
Appearing on Pinkvilla's Hindi Rush, Reem shared that she faced online abuse from trolls. She said she felt bad because her own sister is a flight attendant with Air India and felt concerned for her, but despite that, she chose not to play the victim card.
Reacting to the viral video, Reem said, "Uss waqt jo hua, bohot fast hua. Mein set pe aayi, aur kisi ne pucha, 'Kal ke baare mein batao?' It was such a random question. Subah-subah jab aap 7:30 baje uth ke set pe aate ho, ek ghante ke andar tayyar hoke, 4-5 log aapke sir pe ghoom rahe hote hain... your mind is absent."
She added, "Uske baad aap mujhe gaali do, bolo insensitive, deshdrohi—go ahead. But just because maine media ke saamne dukhi chehra nahi rakha, that does not mean I didn’t go through something, or that I didn’t feel bad about what happened. You might not know humne kya face kiya, because my sister flies for that airline. Jab woh news aayi, media pe spread hone se pehle mujhe 10-12 calls aa chuke the, asking about my sister. What I experienced... they might not even know."
Reem said that she received a lot of abuse in the comments section, with several people calling her a 'Deshdrohi' and saying things like, 'Isko Pakistan bhejo.'
"Bohot gandi-gandi gaaliyan likhi thi. Bohot bura bola tha. DMs mein bhi log peechha nahi chhod rahe the—buri baatein likh rahe the. Main hairaan ho gayi thi. Maine actually trolling kya hoti hai, woh face kiya," concluded the actress.
On the work front, Reem was seen in the cooking-based reality show Laughter Chefs season 2, where she was paired with Aly Goni.
