03 September,2026 05:28 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Ranvir Shorey and Swara Bhasker. Pics via X
Swara Bhasker has once again found herself in the middle of a controversy over her recent remarks on Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmaavat Jauhar scene. Speaking at an event, the actor called the scene from the 2018 film "problematic", attracting massive backlash on social media. Protests also erupted in Agra over her comments with a youth leader even offering a Rs 1.51 lakh reward for cutting her tongue. Amid this, actor Ranvir Shorey has also broken his silence on Swara's remarks, criticising her.
Ranvir Shorey took to X on Thursday, September 3, to criticise Swara for her remarks. He questioned the connection between the comparisons she drew between Jauhar and rape survivors.
The actor wrote, "I still don't get it! Comparing Jauhar (suicide by fire in defiance of inevitable and endless rape, violence and even necrophilia!) to rape survivors? Where's the connection? They're two completely different sets! The only intention can be to malign one group of people while trying to whitewash the other! Utterly shameless!"
For the unversed, Swara had written an open letter to Sanjay Leela Bhansali in 2018 after the release of Padmaavat. She was recently asked about the letter during a Woman, Life, Freedom talk at the India International Centre in Delhi. Swara said, "I was watching it, and I thought that if God forbid, I was a rape survivor, what is this film telling me? I would feel like a coward that I didn't commit suicide to save my honour. Is that what you want to tell in a society like ours where I feel like, anyway, there is a rape epidemic? 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."
The actress added that one specific scene made her extremely angry. Recalling a close-up shot of a pregnant woman's belly as she performed Jauhar, she shared that she was left shouting, "Chii" in disgust.
Later, following the backlash, the actress took to Instagram to share a clarification via a video message explaining that she did not call Rani Padmavati a "coward". She also questioned if films like Padmaavat should be made if they "send the message that a woman's purity is more valuable than her life?"
The actress added, "Should we be telling a rape survivor that it would have been better if she had died, and that surviving the assault was a bad thing?"
