Trolls shaming Swara over her masturbation scene in latest film need to shut up

Actor Swara Bhasker has been targeted with hate tweets by a few sanskaari trolls for a scene in her latest film, Veere Di Wedding, where her character is shown to be masturbating.
Here’s what trolls criticized Swara for and why they are wrong:

Troll Attack 1: Swara is a "prostitute" and should be "ashamed" as a girl to masturbate on screen




This is exactly the mindset Swara tried to break through her role in the film. Why is it okay for a male Hindi film actor to enact a masturbation on screen but suddenly Indian culture is in danger when a female actor does it?

Shouldn’t the rules of the game be same for both male and female actors?

There have been instances of male actors masturbating on screen (viz Shivam Patil in Nasha, Neil Nitin Mukesh in Jail) and nobody objected to them or gave them such tasteless labels, but it is probably for the first time that a female character is shown pleasuring herself.

So, bearing that in mind, Swara’s bold attempt to express woman’s sexuality is definitely path-breaking and an equalizer.

Troll Attack 2: Swara made it a semi-porn film




This is not the first time Bollywood has dished out an adult-comedy. Films like Mastizaade, Kya Kool Hain Hum, Delhi-Belly were far crasser in their humour, but nobody labelled them a porn film. Then why single out Swara’s act in Veere Di Wedding?

To insinuate that Veere Di Wedding is a porn film is akin to casting aspersions on the credibility, reasoning and judgment of India’s film-certifying authority. The film was cleared with an adult certification by Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) for public viewing. The A-rating clearly signals its content as a film for those above-18 but it is by no means a semi-porn film.

Troll Attack 3: Swara is a terrible actress who was faking an orgasm




“Nobody in porn films masturbates like this” was one of the most common attack that Swara faced on micro-blogging platform.

Well, that is exactly the point.

The masturbation scene in the film is supposed to be funny and thus required Swara to go over the top and overact while stimulating herself. And we must say that she did a damn good job at it.

Grow up, trolls: this is a film, not a porn film. Swara was enacting a role, not imparting masturbation lessons or trying to titillate.

Why can’t you take a scene, a film or a character for what it is – instead of seeing everything from perverted filter alone?

Troll Attack 4: Swara’s act "embarrassed me" while watching it with grandmother


The makers of the film never projected it as a family drama. In fact, the film’s trailer was pretty explicit about what one should expect from it. The teaser, songs and other promotional videos made it absolutely clear that it is a women-centric film and targeted at youth. It also came with an A-rating from CBFC.

There is no harm if someone still decides to watch the film with elders in the family but to put the blame on Swara for their “embarrassment” is conveniently passing the buck.