Swara Bhasker was in the capital for the promotion of her upcoming film, Jahaan Chaar Yaar, along with director Kamal Pandey, producer Vinod Bachchan, and co-stars Sikha Talsania and Pooja Chopra. They also interacted with the press during their visit during which Swara Bhasker opened up about how Jahaan Chaar Yaar is devoid of any agenda. Calling it a ‘not Swara Bhasker type film’, she also addressed claims that such film can lead women astray and whether men would feel disempowered with so many women-centric films coming up in the last few years.
Addressing claims that films like Jahaan Chaar Yaar would destroy the ‘moral values’ of women and lead them astray, Swara Bhasker said, “The same question had come up during Veere Di Wedding as well. So I want to ask the audience if you see women enjoying, living their lives partying, and having fun, why do you think ‘auratein bigad rahi hai’ (women are going astray)? It’s the mentality that you think that society exists for controlling women- their choices, their bodies, what they are doing, or what they are wearing, and who they are loving. We are trying to challenge, or rather just tell a story with this kind of mentality in the backdrop.”
She also added that this film has no agenda and said, “This film is not at all a ‘Swara Bhasker type’ film. It’s just a story, a beautiful story. And for 100 years, when the ‘heroes’ and the male characters were doing the same things- smoking cigarettes, abusing, getting their hearts broken, getting violent or confused showing angst, and becoming the ‘angry young me’, then no one had a problem. Now that heroines are getting a little confused, then (people feel) that society is deteriorating, men are losing their rights.”
Talking about whether more women-centric films would disempower men, Sara opined, “If we talk about equality, many feel that if one section gets up, then the other will go down. That’s not true. We want that all the sections need to come to a level field.”
She also added that women are finally getting to see more shades in films rather than being portrayed as black or white characters. “Till now, in films, we have always seen women characters portrayed in black and white. Either they are ‘pavitra’, pure and spotless, or the vamp who only feeds on negativity with all bad qualities. The grey space was reserved for men. For the last few years, women are getting the grey space. The change has happened because more women are behind the cameras and because the audience is also pointing it out with their views and reviews,” she quipped.
Finally, Swara Bhasker opened up about being typecast, and said, “If we take up roles with the fear of being typecast, then probably none of us would be able to take up more roles. We should not be making any choices based on the fear of something. All of us, in our careers, have broken the ‘rules’, and we have all taken different types of work. If you break all rules, then no one can put you in a box and typecast you. You won’t fit in any!”
Jahaan Chaar Yaar will hit theatres on the 16th of September.
