Swara Bhasker has again sparked public debate by reiterating her critical perspective on the 2018 film Padmaavat, particularly its portrayal of Jauhar. At a recent event, she detailed her motivations for writing an open letter to director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, expressing distress over the film's climax and its potential message to rape survivors. Bhasker questioned whether the film glorified self-immolation, suggesting it could imply that living after sexual assault is a sign of cowardice. She clarified that her comments were not aimed at calling the film's characters cowardly but were a personal reflection on the narrative's impact, especially for victims of sexual violence. The actor also noted that this open letter negatively affected her career, leading to inquiries from directors about her public stance. Bhasker's core argument remains focused on challenging the glorification of practices like Jauhar and affirming the right to life for women, especially rape survivors.

Swara Bhasker has again sparked public debate by reiterating her critical perspective on the 2018 film Padmaavat, particularly its portrayal of Jauhar. At a recent event, she detailed her motivations for writing an open letter to director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, expressing distress over the film's climax and its potential message to rape survivors. Bhasker questioned whether the film glorified self-immolation, suggesting it could imply that living after sexual assault is a sign of cowardice. She clarified that her comments were not aimed at calling the film's characters cowardly but were a personal reflection on the narrative's impact, especially for victims of sexual violence. The actor also noted that this open letter negatively affected her career, leading to inquiries from directors about her public stance. Bhasker's core argument remains focused on challenging the glorification of practices like Jauhar and affirming the right to life for women, especially rape survivors.

Swara Bhasker has again sparked public debate by reiterating her critical perspective on the 2018 film Padmaavat, particularly its portrayal of Jauhar. At a recent event, she detailed her motivations for writing an open letter to director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, expressing distress over the film's climax and its potential message to rape survivors. Bhasker questioned whether the film glorified self-immolation, suggesting it could imply that living after sexual assault is a sign of cowardice. She clarified that her comments were not aimed at calling the film's characters cowardly but were a personal reflection on the narrative's impact, especially for victims of sexual violence. The actor also noted that this open letter negatively affected her career, leading to inquiries from directors about her public stance. Bhasker's core argument remains focused on challenging the glorification of practices like Jauhar and affirming the right to life for women, especially rape survivors.

Actor Swara Bhasker has divided the public once again after she revisited the comments she made on the 2018 film Padmaavat at an event in Delhi.

At the event hosted by the India International Centre (IIC) in Delhi, Bhaskar recalled to author Sujata Prasad and actor Oroon Das why she decided to write a letter to the director og the film, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, after viewing the film and how it ruined her career in 2018.

The 2018 film starring Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh was inspired by Malik Muhammad Jayasi’s 16th-century epic poem Padmavat and revolves around Rani Padmavati and the conflict between Rajput ruler Ratan Singh and Alauddin Khilji. The climax of the film depicts the lead character committing Jauhar, or the practice of collective mass self-immolation by women in medieval India, to avoid capture by the invading army.

Swara said that she was disturbed after watching the climax of the film and seeing hundreds of women choosing jauhar.

She said that she began wondering what the sequence might communicate to survivors of sexual violence.

“I'm watching this, and it shows all these 800 women committing jauhar, which is the story. Watching it, I was thinking that 'God forbid, I was a rape survivor, what is this film telling me? I would feel like a coward. That I didn't kill myself to save my 'honour'," she said

“Is this what we want to tell our survivors that they don’t deserve to live, that if you actually would have been an honourable and brave woman, you would have killed yourself? Are we saying that rape is the end of a woman’s life? This scene was so problematic.”

Bhaskar also recalled the things that upset her about the film.

"There was like one shot that made me so mad. I was like, 'chee!' There is a close-up of a pregnant woman's belly and she's going... So, you're saying that a foetus that might be female doesn't deserve to be born because she might be raped by a Muslim ruler? I was so mad and then I came out and I was like, 'This is terrible'," she recounted.

After intense backlash over the “chee” comment, Bhaskar took to Instagram on Wednesday to clarify her stance: "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 in the palace cowards. If you want to abuse, do so on the right note. I had said that if I were a rape victim, then after watching the climax, I would have felt that I had shown cowardice by surviving the rape.”

She also replied to Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, who argued that the women in Padmaavat were faced with a tough choice and made one. In response, Bhasjkar wrote, "Priyanka ji, you are not understanding the real issue. It is not about the choice of the women who committed Jauhar, but about what we are glorifying. Does a rape survivor not have the right to live?"

In the original open letter written in 2018, the Tanu Weds Manu actor said that she"felt reduced to a vagina" after watching the film. She called out the filmmaker for glorifying both jauhar and sati, performed by the queen Padmavati, played by Deepika Padukone. "Women have the right to live despite being raped, sir. Women have the right to live, despite the death of their husbands, male 'protectors', 'owners', 'controllers of their sexuality'... whatever you understand the men to be," she told the director.

Bhaskar said that the her open letter  “ruined” her career. Many male directors contacted her asking why she was taking political positions when she was an actor.  The same year had also defended Padmaavat when it was attacked by the Karni Sena,

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