Nil Battey Sannata (2016) actress Swara Bhaskar had created a stir with her assessment of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmaavat. Writing in The Wire, Bhaskar felt that the film glorified jauhar (self-immolation), but the most striking comment was how she felt being reduced to a 'vagina' by the film.
Writer Garima Wahal, who co-wrote the ‘Nainowale Ne’ song from Padmaavat with writing partner Siddharth, has hit out at Bhaskar in an open letter.
Titled 'An open letter to all my vaginas', Wahal said the word feminist has been misused and abused, and feminism is not all about quality. Wahal wrote Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela (2013), which was directed by Bhansali.
Writing in her blog, Kuttikalam, Wahal posted a series of questions to all those who felt like 'vaginas'.
"Did they feel like a ‘vagina’ when Rani Padmaavat almost orders her husband, who obliges, to throw out the lecherous priest? She takes a decision, as a vagina."
"Did they feel like a ‘vagina’ when Rani Padmaavat decides to show her face to Khilji in a mirror? Though it was her decision, as a vagina."
"Did they feel like a ‘vagina’ when Rani Padmaavat goes to ‘rescue’ her husband who had been abducted? Again, a decision against the system, as a vagina."
"They must have felt like a ‘vagina’ when she chose ‘fire’ over ‘rape’? It was her ‘call’, her ‘decision’ as a vagina. Right, wrong, strong, weak is up to you to interpret as a ‘penis’ or as a ‘vagina’."
Wahal added, “The word feminism is so misused and so misinterpreted off late that it feels like an abuse. To women, to the ‘vagina’… to the great feminine power. To the only gender that has the power to procure life.”
The writer-lyricist asked Bhaskar if she wasn't aware of how the legend of Padmavati ended.
“When you took your whole family and cook for the film, didn’t you know it is going to end with a jauhar? Why act so surprised? Oh because you wanted him to include a comment on the practice? Ok, then as if the number of disclaimers were not enough. It’s the story of women's valour and their brave, harsh, radical decision. Their choice. That my dear is feminism. The power to be able to choose," wrote Wahal.