Swara Bhasker's performance as the outspoken, devil-may-care Sakshi in Shashanka Ghosh's Veere Di Wedding has earned her praise. As the loud-mouthed, uber-rich woman breaking every stereotype, Sakshi is an example of the 'real' women who form the core of the film.
Veere Di Wedding, also starring Kareena Kapoor Khan, Sonam Kapoor and Shikha Talsania, is a roaring success at the box office. But this has not stopped many from criticizing Swara Bhasker on Twitter.
One of the more talked about scenes in the film saw Swara Bhasker's character choose a vibrator over her husband for pleasure. A rare scene that showed a woman taking control of her own pleasure, it was bound to be controversial.
While several men and women have praised the actress for taking on the scene, calling it 'empowering', quite a few have raised questions about its relevance, and how it connects masturbation with empowerment.
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If director Ghosh had to find a lawyer to defend the character and the use of the scene online, he might have found few better than his actress herself. Swara Bhasker has taken on the job of defending her role, and is doing it with aplomb.
Always outspoken, she seems to be using her Twitter handle to deliver the right jabs at her detractors.
The question of empowerment
On being asked how a woman pleasuring herself can be considered empowering, Swara Bhasker answered with a logic and triteness that left all arguments behind. "In a culture that largely silences or ignores or shames female sexuality, showing a girl gratifying herself in a film in a non-judgemental way is empowering," she shot back.
This is not to say that Twitter is set on baiting the actress for her opinions. Several tweets shared on the timeline show a growing number of men and women understanding the nature and symbolism of the scene.
Even co-star Sonam K Ahuja, when asked about the trolling of Swara Bhasker earlier, was quoted by ANI news agency as saying, "I think people just like to troll her because she has an opinion and a point of view."
With Veere Di Wedding already crossing the Rs40 crore mark in its first four days, the best answer to any criticism might be the box-office collections.