Rakul Preet Singh is one of the most prominent actresses in Bollywood and South cinema. She began her career as a model and also contested in beauty pageants. Now, a video of the actress answering a question during the Miss India pageant has gone viral. While Rakul did not win the pageant, her answer from the Q&A round has resurfaced on social media, sparking widespread discussion among netizens.
Rakul Preet Singh`s old video from Miss India contest goes viral
In the video, actor Fardeen Khan, serving as a judge, posed a question to Rakul. With a smile, he asked, “Take a deep breath, this is not the easiest question. If you found out your son is gay, what would be your reaction?”
Rakul took a moment and gave an answer that surprised many — an answer which netizens now feel hasn’t aged well.
She said, “Well, honestly, if I found out that my son was gay, I would be shocked. I would probably slap him. But then later, I feel choosing your sexuality is one’s own decision, and if he wants to go ahead with that, I have no problems. As far as I am concerned, I prefer to be straight.”
The judges’ panel also included Sajid Nadiadwala and actress Kangana Ranaut. Meanwhile, actor Sonu Sood was seen standing beside Rakul as the host of the pageant.
Netizens react to Rakul`s answer
The video is doing the rounds on Reddit, with users sharing their thoughts on the actress’s answer. Many were baffled and hoped that Rakul has since evolved in her thinking.
One user commented, “At one point Kangana just gave up and started drawing doodles on her notepad.”
Another wrote, “The problem is that she said she would probably slap him for his sexuality. I don’t know what the other contestants said, but wanting to abuse somebody for their sexuality — even as a mother — is wrong.”
“Her answer consists of abuse and ignorance. Not a good look. Hope she has grown,” another user added.
Someone else gave further insight on the pageant: “This is from Miss India 2011. That year, all the top 5 answers were very disappointing. Rakul failed to make it to the top 3, but she got a chance to represent India at Miss Tourism 2011 in China.”
Another user felt she didn’t fully understand the question: “‘Prefer to be straight???’ I think she didn`t understand the question properly.”
Meanwhile, some defended the actress and her response. “What’s wrong with the answer? She said what she felt. You want her to parrot a rehearsed answer like most contestants do just to win competitions, even if they don’t believe in what they’re saying,” one user wrote.
“I don’t think there was anything seriously wrong with what she said. As a straight Indian woman, having grown up in a society that struggles to accept homosexuality, it’s natural that she might react with shock. But she did later say that sexuality is a personal preference, and she would accept her son`s choice. You can’t be sitting in 2025 and harshly judging something that was said more than a decade ago,” another user reasoned.
