Daily Times

With every character she does and the films she chooses, Swara Bhaskar makes a statement; and the actor says her biggest fear would be doing work which would embarrass her when she looks back.

Swara gained prominence by featuring in the “Tanu Weds Manu” franchise and “Raanjhanaa” before headlining critically-acclaimed films like “Nil Battey Sannata” and “Anaarkali of Aarah”.

The actor says she has been very principled regarding the films she wants to do even when the work was scarce and the struggle real.

In an interview with PTI, Swara says, “Even when I was struggling, in my early days, I’ve never done work which I didn’t want to do or done something just for the money. May be occasionally there was a judgement of error, a particular script which looked nice but didn’t turn out well. “But as actors, when we die, we are only going to leave behind our body of work. I really don’t want to be embarrassed in my grave. I don’t want people to say ‘oh what has she done.’ I’m very careful about what I choose.”

The 30-year-old actor’s body of work comfortably aligns with her feminist beliefs. However, it becomes tricky when she features in “Veere Di Wedding” and her choice is questioned from a feminist lens.

“I think ‘Veere’ furthers the feminist cause in a very round about way, by showing four girls in all their flaws, doing their own thing. It’s giving space to women for making mistakes, mess up and figure out themselves,” Swara says.

The actor says, unlike “Veere”, her latest web series “It’s Not That Simple” season two delves into a female psyche.

“This is a very mature series. It delves into more details than perhaps a commercial film can. It talks about a single mother waiting to get divorced, having two affairs emotionally,” she adds.

Directed by Danish Aslam, the Voot original revolves around a modern day woman Meera (played by Swara) and addresses power play, gender roles and infidelity.

Swara says her character’s motivation and choices were so beyond her that she, even being a complete liberal, ended up judging her. “I had lots of fights with the director. I was like ‘what is she upto, she’s such a mess’ and he used to say it’s ok, she’s struggling, why can’t a woman be confused and make mistakes. In doing this, despite me being this great progressive liberal, I am still judging this woman.

“I was judging my own character. Which is why I feel it was a very humbling experience. If a part you play makes you reassess some of your own thoughts, it means you’re leading as a person,” she adds.

The series, which started streaming on Voot recently, also features Sumeet Vyas and Purab Kohli.

Published in Daily Times, December 17^th2018.