Actor Swara Bhasker recently revisited her much-discussed 2018 open letter to director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, speaking at an event in Delhi about the heavy backlash and intense public debate surrounding her critique of the film Padmaavat.
Critique of the Jauhar Scene
Reflecting on what motivated her to write the searing critique published on The Wire, Bhasker explained how the film’s climax—featuring the mass jauhar (self-immolation) of women—deeply unsettled her.
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Questioning Bodily Autonomy: In a viral video from the event, Bhasker questioned the underlying message sent to survivors, asking: “God forbid, I was a rape survivor, what is this film telling me? I would feel like a coward. That I didn’t kill myself to save my ‘honour’… Are we saying that rape is the end of a woman’s life?”
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The Problematic Imagery: She also highlighted a specific, deeply disturbing close-up shot of a pregnant woman’s belly walking toward the fire, criticizing the implication that even an unborn female foetus didn’t deserve a chance at life to avoid potential subjugation.
Clearing Up Misconceptions on the Outburst
Addressing common perceptions that her commentary was a spontaneous reaction, Bhasker clarified that she deliberated for nearly a week before hitting publish. “Normally people think I do these things in a rage, but I waited for five days. I was like, ‘Let me check if I still feel like this.’ At the end of five days I wrote this letter,” she noted.
In her original 2018 letter, Bhasker famously asserted that the film reduced women to mere sexual markers, emphasizing that women possess an inherent right to life regardless of sexual violence or the loss of male protectors.
