Swara Bhasker reflects on her decade-long Bollywood journey
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; September 18, 2019)

"It has taught me to walk straight in heels," grins Swara Bhasker as she reflects on her last decade in the industry. It has been a significant journey for the actor, who — armed with a degree from JNU and the courage to play unconventional characters — headed to Bollywood 10 years ago. "I didn't know anyone here; had no contacts, no connections, apart from writer Anjum Rajabali, whose office I lived in," recalls Bhasker.

While she showed promise in a slew of supporting roles, she counts Raanjhanaa (2013) as the game-changer in her career. "Before Raanjhanaa released, I often asked myself, 'Should I drop it all and go back to Delhi?' But fortunately, good work and the opportunity to associate with good people kept coming my way."

Her crowning achievement in the industry has been her production house, that she launched earlier this year with brother Ishaan. Their first project is a biopic on Krishna Sen, an Uttarakhand-based woman who duped two women into marriage, convincing them that she was a man. In the process, she extorted money from them. Quiz her on the film's progress, and she says, "We are scripting the film."