Actress Fatima Sana Shaikh shot to popularity across the country after starring in the 2016 Hindi film, Dangal, which turned out to be a mega blockbuster at the box office. The Aamir Khan starrer saw the 28-year-old actress portray the character of Geeta Phogat, an Indian freestyle wrestler, with her performance winning her praises from audiences and critics alike. A highly active celebrity on social media, Fatima in an interview recently to Pinkvilla revealed that she was sexually abused when she was three years old. 

Speaking about the many "isms" she has had to battle in her career as an actress, Fatima Sana Shaikh, who entered the film industry on her own and without any connections, spoke about the issue of "sexism". She revealed that there were times when she was told she would only be cast in films through sexual favours. She went on to make the revelation about facing sexual abuse when she was a three year old and said, "I was molested when I was five years old. No... I was three years old. So, you understand how deep sexism goes. It's a battle we fight on every day basis. It's a battle every woman, every minority person fights every day. And I hope that our future is better. I have hope in our future." Fatima in her interview earlier also said, "I have faced people telling me that the only way to get a job is through sex. So that has also happened to me. I have lost jobs to someone else for whatever reason. But I feel that there are a lot of struggles that a lot of people are facing apart from this industry and sexism is very much relevant and it exists in every industry."

Fatima Sana Shaikh began her career as a child artist in 1997 in Chachi 420, the Hindi remake of Kamal Haasan's Tamil film, Avvai Shanmughi. She then debuted as a lead actress in the sports drama biopic Dangal, which still holds the record for being highest-grossing Indian film with more than 2000 crores in box office collections. Fatima once again starred alongside Aamir Khan in the epic action drama Thugs Of Hindostan, which also included legendary superstar Amitabh Bachchan. She will next be seen in the Netflix film Ludo, which includes an ensemble cast featuring names like Abhishek Bachchan, Aditya Roy Kapur, Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi, Rohit Suresh Saraf, Sanya Malhotra and Pearle Maaney, and is slated for a premiere on November 12. She also has Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari in her film line-up.