Kolkata actress Vinita Chatterjee goes vegan!

Meet Vinita Chatterjee, the new vegan on the Bollywood block. She’s vivacious and sizzles on screen. She not only dons multiple hats but excels in every field she steps foot in. A former journalist from Kolkata, today she is a Bollywood actress, video jockey, anchor, professional singer, show stopper model, and a great performer. She’s performed in over 1200+ events across the globe and has won the hearts of all her fans.  You probably know her from her ensconced role as Carol Brown in the hit Bengali TV show, Mem Bou.

As a Kashyap Brahmin, she is a true believer in the concept of Satvik Brahminism, her search for the almighty is what keeps her going. She’s rooted to her core principles and values - that is where she gets the strength to portray kindness in everything she does.

Being clean. Being human.

Born into a staunch Bengali family, she was force-fed all kinds of meat while growing up, where meat and dairy were household staples. But ever since she can remember, her body always repulsed animal products. As soon as she’d eat meat, her system would reject it. It wasn’t soon after, that she decided to do away with eating meat altogether.

Her faith in the almighty is unparalleled and inspiring. Being true to her belief system is what drives her to challenge the hypocrisy of any kind. Standing up against butchering of animals in the name of God is something Vinita strongly condemns. Her heart aches to see animals culled under the pretext of God and religion. She strives to serve the almighty every day by showing care and kindness towards her fellow humans, as well as the animals.

Image Courtesy Star network/Hotstar/Vinita Chatterjee

Vinita has also been an avid supporter of PETA. She herself has rescued a few animals from slaughter and has on one occasion even faced humiliation and abuse for it. Undoubtedly, this kind of passion doubles up with a great deal of courage.

“In my quest to attain peace, if I am kind to anything that has life, it multiplies the happiness in me.” she says, with a huge smile plastered across her pretty face.

It was only recently that she stumbled across videos that threw light upon the cruel dairy industry and its wrongdoings that included cruel methods of milking, rape and death. While growing up, she’d visited local tabelas and seen cows being milked after calves were fed, but the reality of today’s dairy industry is nothing remotely close to what she had seen back then. She then connected all the dots about the dairy industry which suddenly came full circle. Having spent days and nights in disbelief, she finally decided to take the plunge and give up all animal products.

Like many others who transition into being vegan, it wasn’t as easy. Quitting dairy has been incredibly hard for Vinita. Fast food and cheese has been an integral part of her diet for a long time now, but she’s discovering the path to a cruelty-free life and absolutely loving it. She has spent over a year doing extensive research and in her opinion, veganism isn’t just saying no to animal products - it is the concept of showing kindness and being conscious of our actions. By consuming animal products, we are also ingesting the karma of the animal.

Vinita’s take on a plant based Diet

As she’s growing closer to veganism every day, she’s being drawn to nutrition and health as well. Consulting with Mr.Shivanand Shetty, a passionate vegan and dentist has helped her by leaps and bounds. Not only has her understanding increased multifold, it’s also helping her regulate her diet and curb the occasional dairy craving.

In fact, she’s also the face and brand ambassador of the Fandan Group of Corporates, who are primarily into organic farming. She picked them because they’re free of pesticides, and the produce is incredibly fresh and healthy. “I am a crusader against GMOs and Chemically treated food. I herald an organic revolution.” she proclaims proudly.

Being an actor isn’t easy; it involves a lot of travel and hectic schedules. So how does she manage her eating schedules and a vegan diet? Lucky for her, she loves homemade food and chooses that over hotel food any day. Having picked up the knack to veganise most dishes, it’s become easy to find homemade food available on order wherever she travels. She’s had absolutely no problem with it while she travels. She’s on the hunt for vegan alternatives all the time and is also looking to experiment more with this lifestyle.

"Whenever a product gets into mass consumption, it gets adulterated (poison gets added to it) by the big pharma associates to sell their pharma products. It's the simple concept of creating a virus to sell more anti virus - a major big pharma conspiracy" she says, talking about the existing products in the market.

Image courtesy Vinita Chatterjee

Being a recognized personality in the TV space, Vinita is popular on social media as well. She does not shy away from talking about veganism and animals rights at all. Unfortunately, she does receive backlash for it as well, with the typical ‘plants have feelings’ retort. However, she handles them with poise and hits back with facts. She does this without worrying about the effect it might have on her image. She believes in keeping a cool head and rolling out the facts so that her followers can let their consciousness do the rest.

The law of averages will take care of it all is her do-or-die attitude. Vinita urges people to open up and talk about the truth. She also believes that being the voice of the animals is extremely important and is her top priority. “I’m not passive aggressive, but I’m active aggressive. Once I believe in the cause, I will take it to the next level. I am a benevolent protester!” she says.

Is Bollywood opening up to veganism?

Image courtesy Vinita Chatterjee

Vinita says Bollywood is far from it. Currently, the trend of vegetarianism is catching up in the industry, which in itself is progress. A few others like her have influenced friends and continue to do so, even if it is through emotional atyachaar. She talks to her co-stars and crew about veganism regularly and has managed to open the eyes of many to the truth.

“If you are like a machine and grind anything that comes to your mouth, you can't be a vegan. Veganism is all about emotions. Unless you are emotional and empathetic, you cannot understand veganism. To be able to have that drive in you to understand another’s pain is what makes you a human” she concludes.

Vinita leaves us with a quote that she truly believes in " You become what you eat - research suggests that every 28 days your skin replaces itself, every 5 months your liver replaces itself, every 10 years it's your bones. So you literally become what you eat. You can choose what you are made of"

Influencers like Vinita Chatterjee who have the power to change so many people’s perceptions are so vital to Veganism. We hope more celebrities make the decision to start being conscious of their actions and their lifestyles, so that it may lead to a better future for all the species on this blue planet.

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