Dhriti Tiwari is Srikant’s daughter in The Family Man. Her character’s story arc has caused massive public interest not just in Dhriti’s character but for the actress who plays the part as well.

Ashlesha Thakur is 17 years old but that hasn’t stopped the internet from memeing and trolling her for the actions of Dhriti’s character. This is the return of a common phenomena in the audience where people find it difficult to separate the actor from the fictional person they play.

And that's not it. One look at the comments on the posts of her Instagram account, and you will easily notice the hoards of grown-up men calling her their new crush and demanding details of her personal life.

Some fans harshly remark their hatred for the privacy feature in Instagram DM and call her discourteous for not allowing them to text her. Others are demanding reasons for her non-replies to complete strangers to whom she owes nothing. 

The Family Man recently garnered controversy since the background of the antagonist portrayed Tamil Eelam in bad light. Even though Ashlesha Thakur has no contribution in the writing of the story, she has had to face the brunt of the storm this plot line has caused. Many commentators have expressed their hatred for the show on her profile and some have even accused her of being against humanity.

A closer look will tell us that Dhriti’s relationship with a particular character on the show has contributed to the increase in public delusion. Many users name drop this person with rude language accompanying it.

In the initial episode of The Family Man, we learn that the boy with whom Dhriti is in a relationship with, is a terrorist. The general public has now perceived Ashlesha Thakur to be a person who would readily date a terrorist and has started questioning her character. Anyone she posts a picture with, comments asking if the other person is a terrorist too follow immediately. 

There are even memes of Ashlesha doing rounds where she is branded as a person who will refuse to date you because she has a preference for terrorists.

In one scene Dhriti kisses this boy. People in comments ask about details of this kiss, and how they hated her for doing it. They forget that this is an underage girl who they are referring to. Ashlesha Thakur is just acting and doing her job and should face no criticism for it.

And this delusion of considering an actor responsible for their character’s actions or decisions is not limited to the Indian public. Recently the actor who plays the new Captain America in Disney’s Falcon and the Winter Soldier was trolled everywhere on the internet for trying to fill Chris Evans (original Captain America) shoes.

Billie Ellish, the famous singer, achieved widespread popularity at the age of 15. She has admitted to wearing baggy clothes for most of career because she was afraid of being sexualised by the public and the media. When Millie Bobby Brown from Stranger Things fame wore a low cut but very professional coat-dress in one of the award ceremonies, she was subjected to online hate and trolling for wanting to look mature. 

Child actors from Disney shows like Miley Cyrus from Hannah Montana and Natalie Portman famous for her role in Leon: The Professional at 11 years admitted to being sexualised at a very young age.

Another famous child actress Chloë Grace Moretz recalls the time she considered getting plastic surgery at the age of 16 when she constantly heard about imperfections in her body by her studio bosses. Mortez also considers Instagram to be an extremely regressive place.

The public needs to learn that just because an actor is a public figure doesn’t mean they deserve public hate, especially when the actor is  not even legally an adult.