Zaira Wasim quits Bollywood, says 'I am not truly happy with this identity'

'Dangal' fame actress Zaira Wasim, who recently completed five years in Bollywood, decided to call it quits on Sunday.

Stating the reason behind her decision, the 18-year-old said she is not happy with her current line of work, which has silently and unconsciously transitioned her "out of imaan".

The actress shared a heartfelt note on Instagram that read, "Though I may fit here perfectly, I do not belong here."

Reacting to her post, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah said that it is her decision to make her life choices while wishing Wasim happiness in life.

"Who are any of us to question ZairaWasimmm's choices? It's her life to do with as she pleases. All I will do is wish her well & hope that whatever she does makes her happy," he wrote on his Twitter handle.

The 'Secret Superstar' actor accepted in her post that Bollywood has given her immense love and support but this is not what makes her happy in life.

"This field indeed brought a lot of love, support, and applause my way, but what it also did was to lead me to a path of ignorance, as I silently and unconsciously transitioned out of imaan. I am not truly happy with this identity i.e my line of work. For a very long time now it has felt like I have struggled to become someone else," she added.

Revealing that she tried hard to convince herself that whatever she is doing is okay, the actor further admitted that she soon realised the whole process is making her lose stability in life.

"As I continued to ignorantly pass through while I kept trying to convince myself that what I was doing is okay and isn't really affecting me, I lost all the Barakah from my life. Barakat is word whose meaning isn't just confined to happiness, quantity or blessing, it also focuses on the idea of stability, which is something I struggled with extensively," read her post.

"I kept procrastinating by tricking and deluding my conscience into the idea that I know what I am doing doesn't feel right but assumed that I will put an end to this whenever the time feels right and I continued to put myself in a vulnerable position where it was always so easy to succumb to the environment that damaged my peace, imaan and my relationship with Allah," she added.

Wasim also opened up about how she found her sanity by reading Quran, the religious text of Islam.

"In the great and divine wisdom of the Quran, I found sufficiency and peace. Indeed the hearts find peace when it acquires the knowledge of Its Creator, His Attributes, His Mercy and His commandments," she explained.

"I began to heavily rely upon Allah's mercy for my help and guidance instead of valuing my own believability. I discovered my lack of knowledge of the basic fundamentals of my religion and how my inability to reinforce a change earlier was a result of confusing my heart's contentment and well being with strengthening and satisfying my own (shallow and worldly) desires," Wasim added.

The actor further said that she started to heavily depend upon God's mercy for help and guidance instead of valuing her own believability.

"I discovered my lack of knowledge of the basic fundamentals of my religion and how my inability to reinforce a change earlier was a result of confusing my heart's contentment and well being with strengthening and satisfying my own (shallow and worldly) desires," she said.

The actress, who made her debut in Bollywood with Aamir Khan's 2016 film 'Dangal', said she questioned the deepest sources of her ideas of success, meaning and the purpose of her life.

"The source code that governed and impacted my perceptions evolved into a different dimension. Success isn't correlated with our biased, delusional and conventional shallow measures of life. Success is the accomplishment of the purpose of our creation. We have forgotten the purpose we were created for as we ignorantly continue to pass through our lives; deceiving our conscience," she said.

Wasim officially said her journey has been "exhausting" and "too short yet too long to be at war with oneself".

"This journey has been exhausting, to battle my soul for so long. Life is too short yet too long to be at war with oneself. Therefore, today I arrive at this well-grounded decision and I officially declare my disassociation with this field."

Announcing her decision to quit Bollywood, the actor said she was openly doing so not to paint a holier picture of herself, but "this is the least I can do to start afresh".

In her post, she also quoted many verses of Quran, including [Quran, 2:222], (Quran 51:55), (Quran 8:29), etc stating that it had weighing factor in her decision making and reasoning. It also changed her approach to life and its meaning.

The actor will be seen essaying a role in 'The Sky is Pink', which also stars Priyanka Chopra, Jonas, and Farhan Akhtar. The shooting of the film was completed in March.