Swara Bhaskar – Right or wrong; She’s a force to reckon with
We know her for her many traits a fine actress, a controversial personality, a fierce orator and an activist, yet there are many shades of her persona that are not known to all. She’s known for taking a stand on various matters that most Bollywood personalities chose to stay away from and she braves the social media trolls.
She’s been trolled for politicizing matters, hurting Hindu sentiments, vulgarity in her movies/web series and supporting ideas that are against Indian culture, but there is a lot more to her character that has also won her a solid fan following. Read
Swara Bhaskar’s Life!
Born in New Delhi, India, Her mother, Ira Bhaskar, is a lecturer of theatre studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi, her father Chitrapu Uday Bhaskar, is a Telugu Indian Navy officer.
She finished her schooling at Sardar Patel Vidyalaya and then got her graduate degree in English literature from Miranda House. She did her master’s in sociology from JNU. We can safely say that she’s one of the most literate actresses of Bollywood.
Before getting into TV shows and movies, she pursued theater in Delhi, She used to collaborate with N. K. Sharma in his “Act One” theater group. Eventually, she decided to move to Mumbai, in 2008 and she then tried to make a career out of her dreams. Swara Bhaskar got her widespread recognition with supporting roles in movies such as Tanu Weds Manu (2011) and Raanjhanaa (2013).
She gained a lot of fame after Nil Battey Sannata (2016) as she was now known for how she can easily play any role. She has even been a part of blockbuster movies like Tanu Weds Manu Returns (2015) and even Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (2015), the two movies that had the highest-grossing that year. She has even been in a web series “It’s Not That Simple”, featuring Vivan Bhatena and Karanveer Mehra. This was streaming on Voot. This show is all about a modern homemaker who is stuck in an unhappy marriage.
Swara’s Acting Career
She made her debut in the commercially flop movie “Madholal Keep Walking” in 2009, She then appeared in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish, which had Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as the lead. She then continued working in low-budget movies, like “The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project” (2010) which was a box-office failure, even though it made it to the premiere at the Transilvania International Film Festival.
She had three flop movies, she ended up getting the success she deserves when she worked in Tanu Weds Manu (2011). She played the role of a bride-to-be, Payal, for which she even got nominated for the best supporting actor, in Filmfare.
She then featured, “Listen… Amaya”, 2013, In this she played the main role. Her co-actors were Farooq Shaikh and Deepti Naval. The audience said that Swara should be watched out as an actress.
The same year she was part of Aurangzeb alongside Arjun Kapoor. She was then a part of Raanjhanaa, where she played a ridiculed lover. She got her second nomination for Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress.
“Anaarkali of Aarah”, released in 2017, is a drama film along with her stars Sanjay Mishra and Pankaj Tripathi as the lead. She won the Filmfare Critics Nomination for Anarkali Of Aarah.
Other than her movie career she maintains a simple lifestyle.
Swara as an Activist
- Swara has been very vocal when it comes to the Citizenship Amendment Act and was even a part of the accompanying protests.
- There were cases lodged against her for encouraging communal disharmony that had been done by using provocative speech.
- She even stood against the arrest of Safoora Zargar an anti-CAA activist.
- Swara has been very actively speaking on women empowerment on various platforms.
- She has also been very vocal on issues like rape and she stirred up social media with her tweets about the Unnao and Kathua rape cases.
Swara Bhaskar Controversies
Controversy and Swara Bhaskar seem to have a long relationship and while she has gotten into many controversies related to her acting career, social media messages, and her stand on national issues, here are the top 6 controversies for you.
1. Kathua rape case
It is probably also true that Swara doesn’t look for controversy, the controversy finds her naturally.
Her tweet in support of the Kathua rape case victim was well-intentioned, however, her mention of ‘Devi-sthaan’ temple in the same tweet where she mentioned that she’s Hindustan and she’s ashamed, drew wrath from Hindu activists. Her intentions were not to hurt the Hindu feelings but only to highlight such a heinous crime, however, she could have, probably, done the same without mentioning the temple.
Ironically, the placard that Swara was holding was also held by many other Bollywood personalities, however, Swara was the one who got trolled for it the most. As we said, the controversy finds her even when she has no intention of creating it in the first place.
2. Veere Di Wedding Masturbation scene
Swara was trolled for the scene in the movie and labeled as vulgar and against Indian culture. The bold scene is the first-ever depiction of a woman enjoying herself because her husband isn’t able to satisfy her. While the trolls tweeted endlessly Swara shut them up by saying that she took her grandmother along to watch the movie.
Even as her mother came out in her support, the trolls didn’t let go and this is one controversy that probably will chase her for a long long time, as is evident from the tweet below. Also, look at how Swara handles the trolls
3. Delhi Riots
Swara made a few comments that angered netizens about her putting the blame of the riots on a certain community only and her alleged indication about who was responsible for the riots.
She made a speech that many thought was an instigation for violent protests and it resulted in igniting an already inflammable situation. Below is what she said.
“But, you know what I think that time is to actually start answering those messages on those WhatsApp groups. I think that when we talk about resistance, which is really the only way forward. I think we have to find ways to resist at every step, at every single step. I would urge all of us and I am sure you all agree. But still, again, begs repetition. I think we should see Kunal Kamra’s act as an act of resistance. That was an act of protest. It doesn’t have to be polite.”
Quoted from Swara Bhaskar’s speech.
4. Anti-CAA protests
During the anti-CAA protests, Swara retweeted a number of videos featuring clashes between Delhi police and the students of Jamia University. Her support for the students resulted in many calling her biased and trying to cause more tension.
She was also trolled for her mindless comment about her age during a debate on CAA at the Hindustan Shikhar Samagam Event, where she said, “No, I am not running any activism for 15 years, I was 15-years-old in 2010” whereas she was 31 years old while making the statement.
During the debate the host, Rubika Liyaquat also made it evident that while Swara was debating on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, she hasn’t actually read the Act. While Swara repeatedly said that she has read the relevant sections of the debate, her arguments were weak and she was rebuked for the same by many. Watch one such video trolling her for her incomplete knowledge of the Act.
5. Rasbhari web series vulgarity
Swara’s portrayal of Rasbhari, a prostitute, instantly triggered sharp reactions from the audience calling the web series content inappropriate, vulgar, and irresponsible. People also raised questions on Swara’s stance on feminism and objectifying women.
Another controversy was raised by CBFC chairman Prasoon Joshi when he called out a scene in the web series where a small girl was made to dance in front of adult men at a party. Prasoon tweeted “Creators and audience need to seriously rethink freedom of expression or freedom of exploitation? Let’s spare children in the desperate need for entertainment.”
Later Swara responded to him and said that he has misunderstood the scene and that the small girl was dancing on her own wish but the father was embarrassed about the same. She also mentioned that the little girl has no idea that society will sexualize her. The comment was probably targeted towards Prasoon Joshi’s reaction to the scene.
6. Zomato Controversy around Swara Bhaskar Tweet
On 18th Nov Swara Bhaskar messaged to Zomato account and Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal to remove Zomato ads from Republic TV and used the hashtag #Defundthedate. Her message was slammed immediately by filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri and many others.
However, the real trouble started when Zomato (via its Twitter handle @Zomatocare) responded to Swara’s tweet and said we looking into this. All republic TV fans started trolling Zomato and called for a boycott of Zomato. Zomato’s tweet and people’s reaction below
You can find Swara on Social media. Here are her social media handles.
Instagram: @reallyswara
Twitter: @reallyswara
To wrap it up, I like a few things about Swara and I don’t like a few others, however, the indisputable fact is that you can’t just ignore her. She’s a force to reckon with and I wish her a controversy-free future, hopefully. Do let us know in the comments what is it that you like or dislike about Swara.