A video clip featuring actor Swara Bhasker using cuss words, on comedian Abish Mathew’s chat show, while talking about a child she worked in a TV commercial with has created a controversy. In the video of the show called Son of Abish, Swara refers to the child as ‘chu**ya’ and ‘kameena’ which has now got social media reacting to it.
On the show, when asked about whether she started out with films or advertisements, Swara said, “My first project was a film that never got released. After some 5,000 rejections I was offered an ad in the South. It was an advertisement for a soap and I was dreaming about bathing in the aroma of Lux.”
The actor then went on to narrate the actual experience. “When I reach the sets, I see a 4-year-old kid waiting, who addressed me as ‘aunty.’ I said to myself ‘Career shuru bhi nahi huyi abhi aur is chu**ye ne aunty bol diya (My career hasn’t even started and he refers to me as aunty.)’”
Swara added that the child was a star. “Kids are basically evil. They can gauge who is a star and who isn’t. So, while shooting I had to bathe this menace and he kept asking the director to excuse him as he wanted to go to the washroom. I felt pity on this kameena bachcha and I requested that he be excused. But to my shock he had already peed in the bathtub. I went home and scrubbed myself with phenyl,” she said.
As the video went viral online, the hashtag #SwaraAunty started trending on Twitter. Most of the Twitter handles criticising Swara for her language used in the video were right-wing trolls who’ve had a bone to pick with the opinionated actor. The fact that the other guest on the show was Kunal Kamra, who’s also known for being vocal against the establishment, didn’t help.
A BJP worker, Akash Joshi, has also registered a complaint with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) against Swara Bhasker over her comments. Taking to Twitter he wrote that he will not rest until Swara is put behind bars.
An NGO, Legal Rights Protection Forum, has also filed a complaint with NCPCR against Swara for her “racist & discriminating comments against Children of Southern Part of India during a TV Show”.
Swara also had a few supporters, who felt that the video was being blown out of proportion to score political points.
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