Hindustan Times ·
Arts, culture, entertainment and media
Swara Bhasker apologised to Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir and Salman Khan after Ram Janmabhoomi verdict: 'Felt ashamed'
Swara Bhasker says she felt 'ashamed' following the Ayodhya verdict, leading her to apologise to her Muslim friends.
Actor Swara Bhasker has once again found herself at the centre of controversy. In a recent interview, the actor recalled that she felt 'really ashamed' after the Supreme Court’s 2019 Ayodhya verdict. She said she reached out to her Muslim friends, including Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan, to 'apologise' after the verdict was announced.
‘I was so upset when the Ram Janmabhoomi verdict came out’
Speaking on The Midnight Hour podcast, Swara said, “I was so upset when the Ram Janmabhoomi verdict came out. I was like what is this country, and what is this verdict. I was upset because I felt it was unfair.”
She added, “So, I messaged all the Muslims in my phonebook. Like from Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan sir to Fahad. I wanted to reach out to all the Muslims I know. I wanted to tell them, as a Hindu, I just wanted to let you know that I am really sorry and that I am ashamed and I don't agree with this.”
The Supreme Court delivered its unanimous verdict in the Ayodhya title dispute on November 9, 2019. The five-judge bench directed that the disputed 2.77-acre site be handed over for the construction of a Ram temple. It also directed the government to allot five acres of alternative land to the Sunni Central Waqf Board for a mosque.
Before her latest comment, Swara had also faced controversy over her criticism of the jauhar sequence in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film Padmaavat.
Recalling her reaction to the scene at the Woman Life Freedom talk at the India International Centre in Delhi, she 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.”
She added, “Then there was this one shot, which made me so mad that I shouted ‘chii’ loudly; there is a close-up of a pregnant woman’s belly performing jauhar. So you are telling me that fetus, which might be a female, doesn’t deserve to be born because she might be raped by a Muslim ruler. I was so mad. I waited for five days to check if I still feel like that, and after five days, I wrote a letter.”
Swara later clarified that her comments had been misinterpreted and said she had not called Rani Padmaavati or the women who performed jauhar “cowards.”
On the work front, Swara was last seen as a contestant on Pati Patni Aur Panga. She was last seen in a lead role in the film Jahaan Chaar Yaar.
- Vibha Maru is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times Entertainment, based in Delhi. With a decade of experience across digital and print media, she covers Bollywood, Hollywood and web shows. A self-confessed cinephile who breathes Hindi cinema, Vibha can often be found sacrificing sleep after binge-watching films and web series. Though she holds a Commerce degree, she discovered her true calling in journalism after enrolling at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC). She began her career covering Delhi's cultural scene, food, nightlife, concerts, and city life at The Times of India, before moving into full-time entertainment journalism with India Today. At India Today, Vibha interviewed some of the biggest names in Bollywood and television while carving a niche for herself through film reviews, opinion pieces, nostalgic features, celebrity interviews, and trend-driven stories. She later brought her storytelling and editorial expertise to The Indian Express, where she continued to deepen her understanding of cinema through long-form entertainment explainers, retrospectives and feature writing. Now, as Assistant Editor at Hindustan Times Entertainment, Vibha continues to chronicle the world of movies and pop culture. Her work spans breaking entertainment news, exclusive interviews, celebrity features, and stories that capture the conversations shaping Indian cinema.Read More
