My open letter to Sanjay Leela Bhansali on 'Padmaavat' was stupid, I hear: Swara Bhasker

Picture Courtesy: IANS

New Delhi: Bollywood actress Swara Bhasker, who was sometime back in news for her open letter to filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali over 'Padmaavat' has now said that she was told that her letter was nothing but 'stupid'. 

The actress was speaking to Mid-Day when she asserted, "I didn’t even know that I was so famous, or my voice mattered this much. Although in a twisted, warped way, it did remind me of the reach I had. However, the Bollywood I know deserves more credit than we give it because the hatred I received for writing that letter came from social media users, not the industry."

"Bollywood braves too much criticism. It has accepted me the way I am and given me the space to thrive. Fundamentally, I have fierce opinions. And if I have them, I must be prepared to deal with trolls. In Bollywood, however, everyone is only trying hard to hold their ground, despite all odds. So, this is not the industry that must be blamed." 

"I have to be careful about the things I say because it will be up for scrutiny. Words are twisted out of context to imply something else. This is also probably the reason behind artistes’ hesitation to back issues that they feel strongly about," she said adding that she has become cautious before speaking her mind in public. 

In her open letter to Bhansali, Swara had come down heavily on the filmmaker for allegedly glorifying the practice of 'Jauhar' and 'Sati' in the period film 'Padmaavat'. She wrote that at the end of the movie, she felt reduced to a vagina. 

After her letter went viral, she received a lot of backlashes, both from within the Bollywood film industry and online. She was trolled for using the vagina word in her letter. The trolls also questioned her choice to be a part of movies like 'Raanjhana' and 'Anarkali of Aarah', that showcased stalking and a story about an erotic dancer respectively.