Swara Bhaskar
Swara BhaskarVarinder Chawla

Bollywood actress Swara Bhaskar is one outspoken lady. She recently grabbed attention with her open letter to Sanjay Leela Bhansali over his movie Padmaavat. 

Though the film showcased the 13th century when a person's pride was given more importance than life, Swara felt Bhansali shouldn't have shown the helplessness of a lady by portraying women performing "jauhar".

"I felt like a vagina. I felt reduced to a vagina–only. I felt like all the 'minor' achievements that women and women's movements have made over the years – like the right to vote, the right to own property, the right to education, equal pay for equal work, maternity leave, the Vishakha judgement, the right to adopt children...... all of it was pointless; because we were back to basics [sic]," Swara said in the letter.

Shahid Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Padmaavat
Deepika Padukone and Shahid Kapoor in PadmaavatMovie Stills

Though the era of Alauddin Khilji was entirely different from today's world where women are vocal about their thoughts and fight all odds, Swara thinks Bhansali shouldn't have shown Rani Padmini (Deepika Padukone) asking permission from her husband to perform "jauhar".

"There were more than three instances of the 'good' characters of your story speaking of Sati/Jauhar as the honourable choice, your female protagonist – epitome of both beauty, brains and virtue sought permission from her husband to commit Jauhar, because she could not even die without his permission [sic]," she wrote.

Ranveer Singh, pAdmaavat
Ranveer Singh as Alauddin KhiljiInstagram

Though in the 13th-century Rani Padmini thought jauhar as the way to protect herself and other women from being raped and enslaved to Khilji, Swara thinks: "I would do everything in my power to sneak out of that fiery pit– even if that meant being enslaved to a monster like Khilji forever. I felt in that moment that it was wrong of me to choose life over death. It was wrong to have the desire to live. This Sir, is the power of cinema [sic]."

Swara is being widely applauded for expressing her point of view, but some people have different opinions. While many have praised Swara's open letter, some have criticised her for not understanding the era in which the movie was set.

Actress Suchitra Krishnamoorthi too took a dig at Swara, but the Veere Di Wedding actress slammed her. In fact, Swara is on a clapback spree to people who have spoke out against her opinion.

Take a look here:

Swara even retweeted those who criticised Suchitra Krishnamoorthi's tweet:

Swara Bhasker tweet
Swara Bhasker tweetScreenshot