Bollywood actress Swara Bhaskar has denied filmmaker Prasoon Joshi's claims that her latest web series Rasbhari portrays a little girl child dancing provocatively in front of drunken men.
Rasbhari, which began streaming on Amazon Prime from June 25, has opened to mixed response. It is a coming-of-age love story, revolving around class 11 student and his growing infatuation for his English teacher. Some viewers have slammed actress Swara Bhaskar, who is seen as a seductress teacher in the web series, and asked her what message she is trying to convey to the women and students across India.
Now, Prasoon Joshi, who was the Chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification in 2017, has joined those people and slammed the team of Rasbhari. The filmmaker asked the creators of the web series to rethink whether freedom of expression or exploitation. He advised them to spare children.
Prasoon Joshi tweeted, "Saddened by Webseries #Rasbhari's irresponsible content portraying alittle girl child dancing provocatively in front of men drinking. Creators& audience need 2seriously rethink Freedom of expression or freedom of exploitation? Let's spare children in the desperate need4 entertainment."
Swara Bhaskar was quick in responding to him and denied his claims. She tweeted, आदर सहित सर, शायद आप scene ग़लत समझ रहे हैं। सीन जो वर्णन किया है उसके ठीक उल्टा है। बच्ची अपने मर्ज़ी से नाच रही है- पिता देख कर झेंप जाता है & शर्मिंदा होता है।नाच उत्तेजक नहीं है, बच्ची बस नाच रही है, वो नहीं जानती समाज उसे भी sexualise करेगा- scene यही दिखाता है। #Rashbhari
The literal translation of Swara Bhaskar's tweet reads, "Sir with respect, maybe you misunderstood the scene. The scene is exactly the opposite of what it is described. The girl is dancing at her own will - the father is blushed & ashamed. Dance is not provocative, the child is just dancing, she does not know the society will sexualise her too- this is what the scene shows."
However, after watching Paatal Lok, many viewers demanded censorship for the web series too. Now, Rasbhari has intensified their urge. A netizen replied to Prasoon, "I have strongly believed that web series content need to be regulated by censor board just like movies. Things are getting out of hands. Thing has become too vulgar now. Please urge govt to do something about it."
