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Swara Bhasker has once again spoken about the open letter she wrote to filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali after watching Padmaavat in 2017.
Swara had strongly reacted to the film’s much-discussed jauhar scene and explained why it deeply disturbed her.
Speaking at a panel discussion titled Woman Life Freedom at the India International Centre in New Delhi, Swara said she was concerned about what the scene could communicate to survivors of sexual assault. She said she wondered whether such a narrative could make rape survivors feel that they had lost their honour or did not deserve to continue living.
Swara recalled watching the story of hundreds of women committing jauhar and thinking about how she would feel if she were a survivor of rape. She questioned whether such stories could make women feel that they were cowardly for choosing to live rather than dying to protect their honour.
The actor clarified that she did not write her letter immediately out of anger. Instead, she waited for five days to understand and confirm her feelings before publishing it.
Swara also spoke about a line from her letter that later became controversial. She said she was trying to explain that women are much more than their bodies or private parts. However, one particular line was turned into the headline, “I felt like a vagina,” which, according to her, changed the way many people understood her message.
Based on Malik Muhammad Jayasi’s epic poem Padmavat, the film starred Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh. Despite facing major protests and controversy before its release, Padmaavat became a huge commercial success.
On the personal front, Swara married politician Fahad Ahmad in 2023, and the couple welcomed their daughter Raabiyaa later that year. Swara was last seen in Pati, Patni Aur Panga, while her last film appearance was in Jahaan Chaar Yaar(2022).
