Dear Swara Bhaskar..
Your open letter about being reduced to a vagina after watching Padmaavat, showed where your individual focus lies when you watched the movie. A period film, a historical depiction, a junior school history chapter is what we saw. The story of the Rani of Chittor is far too well known as a story of a warrior princess who followed the rule of war: “Dushman ke haath zinda nahi aana hai”. She herself was a warrior and fought throughout the story winning all the way through. What about her love for Chittor that she did not let the enemy touch or torture them. What has vagina got to do with love, sacrifice and valour?
As compared to other Sanjay Bhansali films, I personally found Padmaavat less on the emotional quotient.His female protagonists are women who stand for love and die for it too. He is a story teller of his own kind, indulgent but honest to his craft. However, through the movie, I did not see a vagina at all.
Must I see the movie one more time? Have I missed something?
It is sad to meet this pseudo feminism, a claim of social awakening which expresses freedom of thought by criticizing freedom of expression. We are awakened in the midst of a social reality and the opposing dynamic of that affects lives of women everyday.
Who and when has Sati or Jauhar been glorified in the last so many decades?? There are laws against it. As a lawyer, social activist, a thought leadership author for women, I am amazed at how women themselves have no clue what their dignity must be, what their choices give them the freedom to do, what all they can do with that freedom.
We are in changing times.
The laws have not stopped rape, depression, rejection, acid attacks, misogyny, sexual harassment, sexism, casting couches..? Women have to stand up to make smart choices for themselves but they are also in times where they themselves need to understand how to protect their dignity.
No, I am not saying jump into a pyre. I am saying, let women be the master of their choices, the kind that keep their dignity, desires, bodies, lives safe and loved by themselves.
We are awakened to our powers, including that of our vaginas, not in the narrow sense of sex alone…..but in the way that a woman’s creative power can change the way the world sees her.
You are a great actor though.
Abha Banerjee
