“The moment of Sushant’s passing should have been about him and his talent, and not us,” says Swara Bhasker as she addresses the outrage and charges that have been exchanged since his death
Anshul Chaturvedi (BOMBAY TIMES; July 23, 2020)

Over a month after Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, what is your take on all the phrases the air is thick with – nepotism, favouritism, insider, outsider, mafia?
I think Sushant’s demise was a shock and a tragedy that has moved everyone – his fans, his colleagues, audiences and the industry. It seems inexplicable that such a successful, handsome and popular star with such a bright career ahead of him, sitting on a 200-crore grossing super hit film (Chhichhore) should feel the need to take his own life – it’s hard to stomach and even harder to make sense of.

There is genuine grief. I think people are just latching onto theories and possible explanations to make sense of a tragic act that seems inexplicable and too painful to accept. It’s comforting in such a time to lay the blame on someone and vilify them – it makes the pain easily consumable. I think underneath all this anger, all this need for accusations and name-calling there is genuine grief and pain in the audience and in the public. I think there is also guilt – a feeling that we didn’t appreciate Sushant enough while he was alive. And now he is gone, and we can do nothing – so almost as a praayashchit we are turning this into a cause and attacking constructed villains.

What’s your perspective on the arguments for and against the possibility that Sushant would take an extreme step?
I don’t want to speculate as to the reasons for Sushant’s unfortunate actions. It was painful to learn of it. At a personal level, it left me shaken for days, though I didn’t know Sushant personally at all.

But I think what was really tragic was the way Sushant’s death was used by certain people for their personal agendas. The media and the way it covered the tragedy was despicable. What his family was subjected to was sickening. The fact that WhatsApp groups were circulating images of his corpse – I mean it’s unbelievably insensitive. And then the accusations began, the abuse and slander of star kids and ‘insiders’ and the hate and trolling of well, everyone, including what his ex-girlfriends were subjected to. And we lost Sushant again. Really, I feel we lost him twice. The moment of his passing should have been about him. Not about us. About his talent, not our vendetta. About his successes, not our frustration. Sushant is a story of tremendous success, he should inspire us. Why are we acting like Sushant was a struggler or a failure?

Sushant in the act of his suicide pulled the cover off our glittering, glamorous world of showbiz. We are unable to accept that even if you have all the material success – the box office hits, the money, the swanky cars, the beautiful girlfriends, the new house, the fame and popularity – there may still be an aching pain, or darkness in you that can grasp you and just not let go. Shouldn’t the real lesson here be that we never know what pain another human being is in, and so we must endeavour to be kinder to each other? We must try to listen to each other, to watch for signs. And to educate ourselves about mental health. And not use this as an excuse to bully one another, be cruel, hateful and, in some cases, downright criminal (like giving rape threats and death threats).

You were in a verbal joust with Kangana Ranaut and her fans. What is the undercurrent between the two of you?
There was no undercurrent really. I was a bit taken aback by Kangana’s comments in those two interviews she gave. She called Taapsee Pannu and me “Chaaploos, chaatney waaley, needy outsider, B grade actress!” I was like wow! That’s a lot of flattering adjectives!

Honestly, I respect Kangana for the journey she has had, her body of work, I think she is a very good actress, she’s feisty and stands up for herself, which is a great quality for women to imbibe; and to many people she is an inspiring role model. I don’t have to agree with everything she says – in fact I can actively disagree with the positions she takes on various issues. And she can disagree with me. That’s okay, that’s our democratic right. And I really do not want to pull down another woman publicly or demean and degrade her – it doesn’t feel right. And as a stated feminist – it feels damaging. Whatever unpleasant personal experiences I’ve had with her in the past – and currently, I guess – I’m totally okay to let that pass, and objectively appreciate her achievements or acting.

The only thing is that she tends to make bizarre counter-factual accusations on public platforms and when she does that about me, I feel the need to set the record straight. She said in an interview, and I quote, “Swara said that my claims of nepotism are fake.” This is quite simply, untrue. I’ve never said that. I’ve in fact said that “everyone agrees nepotism exists in Bollywood”. It’s just that I think there are structural reasons for that and we need to go deeper than individual name-calling and understand that structure, if we want to change anything for the better. I actually questioned Karan Johar about the ‘feudal’ nature of Bollywood before Kangana did. So it’s bizarre to say that I – who has suffered nepotism like all outsiders – would say it doesn’t exist.

Just like she has struggled and achieved her place, so have I. I may not be the ‘highest paid actress in the industry’ but I too am an outsider who came to the industry with no contacts. I worked my way up and I now have a body of work that I stand by and that I’m proud of. I don’t care what grade someone wants to give me, that’s their right.

To me all these girls are inspiring – Taapsee Pannu, Richa Chadha, Huma Qureshi, Radhika Apte and Kangana, and so many others. We are all women who have made it on our own; we are all inspiring role models for younger girls. All of us deserve to be celebrated.

The classifications that we hear about – insider/outsider,A-lister/B-lister – where do you find yourself standing, and how do you feel about such usage?
‘Insider’ ‘outsider’ is a fluid term right? Like Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra, Aishwarya Rai were once outsiders. Ayushmann Khurrana is a great example of an outsider making it big. As far as A and B lists go – I think stardom is basically a reflection of success, power and power dynamics, and that too changes with every hit and flop that you give. I feel, stars may be classified as A and B but actors should be judged on the merit of their art and performances. We may find that some of the finest and best actors and actresses in Bollywood never made it to A lists and A-list parties. So? Does that diminish their value as artists? Is art only great if it is materially successful? Some of the greatest films, like Kaagaz Ke Phool for example, were box office duds. Today that film is taught in cinema studies classes. Our levels of debate need to be more nuanced and better informed. Also I think that people must understand that ‘outsider stars’ when they get power may behave as badly as ‘insider stars.’ Abuse of power is not dictated by where you are born.

You had tweeted that blaming Karan and Alia Bhatt for Sushant’s death because of “a silly game played on a frivolous and pointless chat show is both the height of idiocy and hypocrisy!”
I stand by my statement. We cannot become a society where murder charges and suicide abetment accusations are thrown about so casually. Karan and Alia are not my personal friends, I know them only socially. I have never worked with Dharma, I have never been invited to Karan’s parties and I’ve never been on Koffee With Karan. Many of us who are active in the industry haven’t. Maybe some of us feel left out. Does that make Karan a murderer? So Alia gave a flippant answer to a silly game on a frivolous chat show. Does that make her a murderess? Have we as a society completely lost all sense of balance, objectivity and rationality? This is the worst kind of mob mentality that we are fanning. It doesn’t bode well for us as a society. I think we all need a strong dose of rational objectivity and empathy, in these stressful times.