Actress Swara Bhasker has landed in controversy following her statement on the ‘Jauhar’ scene in the 2018 film ‘Padmaavat’. During an event in Delhi, she had raised questions about the Jauhar scene in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film.
Following the statement, it was claimed on social media that Swara had called Rani Padmavati and the women who performed Jauhar cowards. After heavy trolling, Swara released a video on Instagram on Tuesday to clarify. Swara stated that she did not call Rani Padmavati a coward, and that her statement had been misrepresented.
Swara Bhasker gave a statement on the Jauhar scene from the film Padmaavat at an event in Delhi.
Controversy erupts over statement made at Delhi event This entire controversy began during the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ talk held at the India International Centre in Delhi on August 31. While mentioning the Jauhar scene from the film at the event, Swara said that it could send a wrong message to rape survivors.
She further added, ‘Is this what we want to tell survivors, that they are not worth living, that if you were truly a respectable and brave woman, you would have killed yourself? Are we saying that rape is the end of a woman’s life?’
In one scene, a pregnant woman’s belly is shown as she is about to commit Jauhar. Swara had said, “I was very angry seeing this and I said ‘yuck’ right there in the theatre. After thinking about it for 5 days, I wrote an open letter to director Sanjay Leela Bhansali.”
Following this statement, people on social media accused her of insulting historical sacrifice.
Clarified by sharing an Instagram video On Tuesday, Swara Bhasker shared a video on her Instagram account. She said, “A clip of mine is going viral on social media. I was asked why I wrote an open letter after watching Padmaavat. I want to clarify that I did not call Rani Padmavati or the other women of the palace cowards. If you want to abuse, do it for the right reason. I had said that if I were a rape survivor, I would have felt after watching the climax that by surviving after the rape, I had shown cowardice.”
Swara Bhasker has shared a video on her Instagram account to clarify the matter.
‘Is a woman’s purity more precious than her life?’ Swara stated that rape has become like an epidemic in the country even today. Referring to the recent gang-rape in a moving bus in Delhi, she raised the question of whether we should make films that send a message that a woman’s purity is more precious than her life. Citing the Nirbhaya case, she said that Nirbhaya fought for her life until her last breath. A woman’s will to live should never be underestimated.
Debate with Priyanka Chaturvedi on social media Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi responded to Swara’s statement on the social media platform X. Priyanka wrote that when the choice was between death and becoming a slave in a harem, women chose death, which was their decision.
Responding to this, Swara wrote, “Priyanka ji, you are missing the point. It is not about the choice of the women who committed Jauhar, but about what we are glorifying. Does a survivor of rape not have the right to live?”
Deepika Padukone in the Jauhar scene of Padmaavat.
What is the Jauhar scene in Padmaavat? The Jauhar scene in the film occurs near the climax. Alauddin Khilji’s army defeats the Rajputs and enters the Chittorgarh fort. Deepika Padukone’s character, ‘Rani Padmavati’, performs Jauhar along with the women of the fort. In the film, it is depicted as an act of self-immolation to avoid being captured.
