Exclusive - Aashka Goradia reacts to nude yoga pics: It was liberating and trolls hardly matter as they have no identity of their own

Aashka Goradia and Brent Goble, who have been married for three years now are spending their lockdown period in Goa. While Brent is building his own yoga community in Goa, Aashka shuffles between Goa and Mumbai. The couple has also been practicing acro-yoga together and Aashka is in a learning process. In an exclusive live chat with ETimes TV, Aashka and Brent spoke about their new life in Goa, the former’s pics on topless yoga pics and more. Read it all here. By: Sukarna Mondal

Brent: We don’t fight. It is not worth our time. It just spoils everything. We are very communicative. We have our own responsibilities. We are doing well together.

Aashka: Over the last 7-8 months I have been travelling between Goa and Mumbai. Brent is very much stationed in Goa. Now due to the lockdown, we are fortunate enough to spend time together.

Brent: Aashka and I both have been seekers of truth. We both come from different worlds and we came together on this same aspect. We have tried to grow and evolve to our best selves. We come towards each other. Yoga does that.

Aashka: Believing in myself in a completely different manner. I was always out there – a go-getter. Yet, there was emptiness. Now that vacuum is filled. I know I have him.

Brent: I have become more patient and loving due to her. I can put myself way more than I would have with her support.

Both of us believe that freedom is a necessity to keep everything balanced. You can’t control each other’s activities, thoughts, desires to be somewhere in life and achieve something. I feel blessed. That freedom without communication exists between us. So it is easier for us to achieve what we want to achieve, yet supporting and complimenting each other.

Of course you will see me back on TV. I have spent such a huge amount of time, and years of my life doing what I love. It’s just that I am doing something which I had always dreamt at the back of my mind. I wanted to do something that I will carry on even when I am older – being a businesswoman. When I was young I didn’t know what I wanted to become but now I know. So I am shaping things and it needs my time. My business needs my time, and probably when something good comes up I will come on-screen.

I have done all kinds of shows right from a girl next door in Kkusum to fantasy thrillers like Naagin. All of them had experiences of their own. But my role of Rani Dheerbai Bhatiyani in Maharana Pratap will always be closer to my heart. I am open to doing anything interesting whether it is fantasy thriller or mythological.

It was after Nach Baliye that Brent and I discovered that we love to do things together and it’s not just hangout, watch movies or be husband and wife. We wanted to enjoy being physically together in different capacities. After yoga, we just came across acro-yoga and everything has been fun. Generally, it is also about building trust. I make sure not to put my knee on his face and he ensures I don’t fall. Those things might have happened in the past but now we just enjoy it.

There is a wonderful yoga artist, who goes by the name @nudeyogagirl. She performs this art through her own way. I loved it. We spoke on Instagram and she asked me how nudity in all forms is looked down on in India in today’s time. We had an amazing conversation. We are the same nation which had Khajuraho and Kama Sutra. We had beautiful depictions through painters and sculptors. We posted pictures for each other. And if you read the captions – we wanted to say that it is all in the mind. Regarding trolls, they will write what they want to write. They don’t even have an identity of their own. So it hardly matters.

When we exchanged these pictures and our good friend Abigail also joined, we felt liberated. It was a moment of experience. We no longer felt ‘oh my God, what is everybody going to think.’ That’s one point where you no longer think about trolls or people. We got a lot of support. We had a lot of men and women, who wrote good things about us.

While fans and netizens still consider it a taboo seeing their TV actors in their swimwear or glimpses from their ‘real’ life, Aashka finds the digital space to be empowering. She says, “Digital space is such, we all come together to celebrate ourselves a little more than the TV characters we are. TV actors do deserve that kind of freedom. This digital platform has changed our lives because we can share more stories about ourselves. It is empowering.”