Felt reduced to a vagina only: Swara on ‘Padmaavat’
Mumbai, Jan 28 (IANS) Actress Swara Bhasker has, in a scathing comment on “Padmaavat”, said she felt like a “vagina only” after watching the Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial.
She believes the film has brought up the question whether women — widowed, raped, young, old, pregnant, pre-pubescent — have the right to live.
In an open letter published on The Wire late on Saturday, Swara has decried glorification of self-immolation customs Sati and Jauhar.
Swara began her note by congratulating Bhansali for being able to release “Padmaavat” despite the hurdles — something she says she even fought trolls for on social media.
The actress watched the movie “first day, first show”, and decided to share her “concerns” as it left her “stunned”.
“That’s what I felt like at the end of your magnum opus. I felt like a vagina. I felt reduced to a vagina-only.
“I felt like all the ‘minor’ achievements that women and women’s movements have made over the years – like the right to vote, the right to own property, the right to education, equal pay for equal work, maternity leave, the Vishakha judgement, the right to adopt children… All of it was pointless; because we were back to basics.
“We were back to the basic question – of right to life. Your film, it felt, had brought us back to that question from the Dark Ages – do women – widowed, raped, young, old, pregnant, pre-pubescent… do they have the right to live?” Swara wrote.
