‘You can love her or hate her, but you can definitely not ignore her’. The saying is true for Swara Bhasker. The actress has completed 13 years in the industry and every film or a character she is going strong. In an exclusive interview with Team MissMalini, Swara share her views about Bollywood boycott gang on social media, her dream role, playing 9 characters in a film Mrs Falani and lots more.
But before that, check out the trailer of her upcoming film Jahaan Chaar Yaar:
On choosing to be a part of Jahaan Chaar Yaar project:
I am proud of Jahaan Chaar Yaar. I think its heart is in the right place. I want to say about Kamal Panday, who is a writer director. It’s amazing to see a man writing such a sensitive topic, a script which has empathy for women. When I read the script I can’t believe a man has written this.
On giving the feedback to the director about script…
You try your best as an actor. You want the best for the film and as an actor I know that its not enough for me to do my job well. If the film as a whole isn’t working, it doesn’t matter how much hard work the actor puts in. The film is a medium of team work, and its a director’s medium, its a technician’s medium. If I want to have a pure artistic experience as an actor’s medium I should have been on stage, The stage is the actor’s medium. My place is to translate the vision of the director. I do try, but if there is a resistance, I back off. The best kind of performance comes, when the director honors the actor’s craft and directs. Our job is not only to bring life to what you have written but to fill the space in the lines. Any actor performs better when the director allows them a little space and to breathe life into the character. I try to resolve all the doubts and questions before we go on set.
On her thoughts about the industry post the pandemic…
The pandemic has been the traumatizing experience for the whole world. There have been attacks on Bollywood after Sushant Singh’s demise. The kind of hysteria that was picked up against Bollywood, a lot of it is lies and agenda driven. It is a constructed hysteria to target Bollywood by people who have a certain political agenda, and certain agenda of Hate. They don’t like Bollywood because they understand the power of cinema. Today I saw a twitter handle that runs these boycotts asking for money.
On dealing with negativity on social media…
My experience has been different from other Bollywood actors. What was happening to me for 6-8 years has started happening to other actors. For 8 years it was only me who was getting trolled, now Bollywood is experience the same thing. I in these 8 years have worked out ways to deal with the negativity on social media. I can look at something and predict if this will be a controversy or not. I didn’t understand why did they boycott Raksha Bandhan.
On her upcoming projects….
Mimamsa a murder mystery. It was the first week of work I did after COVID, where I am playing a cop. I went on the set with so much of gratitude to the universe, to god. I understood the value of having work after lockdown. You saw around you what happens when people don’t have work. It was surreal. We were making film. I was like this is the spirit of cinema. People need to be entertained even in crisis as you need that mental break.
On playing nine roles in Mrs Falani…
Mrs Falani is interesting, but I am excited and scared at the same time. I am thinking can I pull it off? Its anthology in the short story format genre. There are 9 stories and I play the protagonist in each story. It focuses on the dreams that women have, the desire they have. So what I couldn’t explore in Jahaan Char Yaar, I get the chance to do in Mrs Falani. I look forward to do theatre workshops. My fear before every role that I have forgotten to act. So I think to learn more skills for the craft. All other art forms need to have a daily Riyaz.
Dream roles…
Anaarkali of Aarah was a dream role for me. The universe sends you a dream role of what you wanted in a different format. I love Mughal-E-Azam and I was like someday I would play Anaarkali. I am a big Madhubala fan. I wanted to play the character and then I got Anaarkali who has a spirit of the old character but in a modern day format. I want to do different roles, I have never done historical, I have never done a biopic, I would like to play a man basically a male character. Also an 80 year-old character.
You can watch the entire interview here:
Swara Bhasker starrer Jahaan Chaar Yaar will release in cinemas on 16 September.