Mumbai: Actor Swara Bhaskar says she expected to be trolled for the gratification scene in “Veere Di Wedding” but she also knew that it will help start a conversation about female desire, which is still considered an untouchable topic in Indian society and cinema.
The Shashanka Ghosh-directed film, a commercial potboiler about four friends starring Swara, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Sonam K Ahuja and Shikha Talsania, had sparked a debate among the critics with some hailing it for being a step forward in women-led stories, while others deriding the film for its superficial and contradictory exploration of the women’s perspective. “I expected to be trolled for this. There is an inherent shock value to the scene. There are people in our society who slut shame. I am quite open about things, give my opinion on political issues, so people will not leave any opportunity to attack me but the film is much more than the much discussed scene,” Swara said. The actor is glad that it is the first mainstream Hindi film to openly show female desire and start a conversation about it. “Everyone will have their own perspective and it is good that a conversation has started. Apart from that, in the whole of South Asia there is this culture of silence when it comes to issues of female sexuality, female body or female desire. We are silent about it. “We show it in a metaphorical way, through songs and philosophy. But we shy away from owning and accepting it. Somewhere this film has spoken about it openly,” she says.
