There’s no stereotype that heroines have to abide by: Swara Bhasker
Actor Swara Bhasker, who is basking in the success of her latest film, Veere Di Wedding (VDW), lights up when you congratulate her for the film. “It’s a great feeling, and I feel genuinely blessed to be a part of this film. The numbers signal a crack in the glass ceiling, and bust the myth that women-centric films can’t make money at the box-office. The way things are going, with the positive numbers, I think the 100-crore club is no longer a male bastion,” says Swara.
She feels this success was hard-earned. “This films had four heroines, all 30 years old, or older. One is married, the other is a mother, then another is an indie-activist, and there’s one who doesn’t have the typical body-type of a heroine! Add to that the fact that we had a female writer (Nidhi Mehra; she and Mehul Suri, wrote the VDW script). This proves that there’s clearly no stereotype or career that heroines have to abide by. That, for me, is a happy situation,” she says.
Swara, who has been seen in roles that called for conservative styling in films such as Nil Battey Sannata (2015) and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (2015), won a lot of hearts with her bold fashion statements in VDW. So, was the transition easy or difficult?
“I was very nervous, and like ‘Oh my God! Will I be able to pull it off?’ The success makes me feel relieved, with the responses which I have got from my fans. I had showcased myself as an actor, and people thought I only do nonglamorous roles. That too was a typecast being broken,” says Swara, who is accepting of the criticism, too.
A meme did the rounds of her looking like the girl from a washing powder ad at a promotional event for the film. “That tweet was hilarious! When criticism is creative, then it should be given credit,” is all she can say about it.
VDW, where the female protagonists can be seen swearing and engaging in sextalk, has sparked off many debates. “Everybody has the right to their opinion. People who trolled me for my masturbation scene, they are getting answered back by fellow Twitter users only! Even many comedians are giving it back to the trollers. I feel thankful,” she says.