THREATS DON’T SCARE SWARA
The rank intolerance and the shameless display of violence and violent morality that is now being normalised in our country, is scary. SWARA BHASKER, ACTOR
Swara Bhasker and controversies have always gone hand in hand. Each time the actor has a release, invariably, she gets embroiled in a controversy because she chooses to express her opinion on a political or a social situation in the country. Though the actor says that she will continue to talk, she adds that it is perfectly fine when the producers of a film ask her to not express her opinion on current affairs.
“I don’t know what it is with my career but every time I have a release, there is a national crisis. When Nil Battey Sannata (2016) was releasing, Kanhaiya Kumar got arrested so I said something about that and people wanted to boycott the film. When Anaarkali Of Arrah (2017) came out, the beef lynching started happening so I started a petition for a law to ban hate crimes and lynching, and criminalise them. Now when Veere Di Wedding released, I spoke about the Kathua rape case. This happens before the release of every film of mine. My producers are always like, ‘you wanna shut up now for a couple of months (laughs)?’ But I do understand where they are coming from frankly, because the kind of country we are living in, especially in the last five years, the rank intolerance and the shameless display of violence and violent morality that is now being normalised in our country, is scary,” says the actor.
Swara has been getting all kinds of threats on social media and even otherwise, and while it doesn’t scare her as much, she confesses that her parents are worried for her. “In our country, it is completely okay; probably smart to not have an opinion. I don’t think anyone has the right to anymore, after what happened to Shah Rukh sir over his comment on intolerance where his car was stoned in Gujarat, and after what happened to Aamir sir where he was pressurised to apologise over his comment on growing intolerance. This is not the country that allows people to speak. When you create a society where it is safe to be silent, you will get silence. This is not the country I was born in. I feel depressed and sad but you have to fight for what you love. I will not go down without a fight. My parents are very worried for me and I now need to have security when I am shooting in public areas because every couple of months there is a new threat. It is a bit ridiculous, actually,” she says.