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Indian actor Alia Bhatt's announcement of her pregnancy led to a lot of rumours in the Indian media, which the actor called out in an Instagram story. She called out Pinkvilla, an Indian publication, for quoting "a source" that claimed that the actor will be "brought back" to Mumbai by her husband and will rest after she returns from her shoot. Bhatt retorted that she's a "woman, not a parcel" that needs to be brought back.

Pakistani actors Zara Noor Abbas and Durefishan Saleem lent support to the Bollywood star and took to their Instagram stories to write that women don't have to prove anything.

Abbas wrote that she only thought this could happen in Pakistan, recounting how brands wanted to drop her after finding out that she was expecting.

"Becoming pregnant and being an actress makes the society feel you are not good for work anymore. Well guess what, WOMEN are good enough for everything and anything and it's time the dictators realise so. We don't have to prove our motherhood and craft to any patriarchy," the Badshah Begum actor wrote.

Saleem also shared Bhatt's Instagram story to her own and wrote, "We can get married/make babies and still be kick a** fab. Marriage is a part of life not a [halt]." She also said people need to stop telling women that their career goals don't align well with that.

Pinkvilla had originally claimed that the Gangubai Kathiawadi actor would return to Mumbai, India in mid-July and that Kapoor would go to the UK to bring his wife back home. It also claimed that Bhatt would be taking a rest after she returned from her shoot, suggesting that the actor had planned her pregnancy in a way that doesn't affect her shoot schedule. The post concluded that Bhatt would be wrapping up with her films Heart of Stone and Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani before the end of July.

Bhatt in reply had said, "[In] people's heads we still live in some patriarchal world" and confirmed that nothing has been delayed. "No one needs to PICK anyone up. I am a woman not a parcel!!!! I do not need to REST at all but good to know you'll have a doctors certification as well."

She then went on to remind that this is 2022 and requested if people could get out of the "archaic" way of thinking. "Now if you would excuse me.. my shot is ready," she concluded suggesting that she won't be "resting" at home.