Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Actor Swara Bhasker is back in the reality-show zone, and even she knows it is a slightly unexpected move. After Pati Patni Aur Panga, the actor signed up for Rise & Fall, a decision she revealed her family and friends were not exactly thrilled about. In fact, they advised her against doing the show.
In an exclusive chat with India Today before entering the show, Swara spoke about how she negotiated the decision with herself, telling herself that it would mean being away from her three-year-old daughter for a relatively short period. For the actor, reality television has become an unlikely way of balancing work and motherhood. She said her earlier experience with Pati Patni Aur Panga, where she appeared alongside her husband, Fahad Ahmad, also made her rethink how audiences perceive her.
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“I think a lot of people, especially my family and friends, were also quite surprised. But I discovered that Pati Patni Aur Panga was actually a really nice experience for us. And it was an interesting experience for me in terms of my public image and perception also because I realised that it kind of gave people an insight into a non-political side of me. Usually, that overshadows everything else,” she said.
She added that the experience also made her realise that doing one reality show a year could give her the flexibility to spend more time at home with her daughter. “It’s my little hack to do this balancing act,” she said.
The actor has also consciously slowed down her return to work after becoming a mother. Fiction, she explained, requires a level of mental investment that she currently finds difficult to manage while raising a toddler.
The Veere Di Wedding actor said, “I find fiction very intensive because it requires a lot of prep for me. And getting into a character and its mind space… I can’t with a toddler around. So I feel like reality TV has offered me a nice platform to kind of be around, be doing things, but still also not giving up on my time with my baby.”
Interestingly, Swara had not watched Rise & Fall when it was first offered to her. She had, however, been approached for the show the previous year and knew some of the contestants from the first season. For her, the show is also an experiment in figuring out how much control an actor can exercise over their own narrative when there is no script. “I feel like that’s also a nice challenge,” she said.
The actor also spoke about the trolling she has faced since becoming a mother. In a blunt assessment, she called postpartum body-shaming “the lowest IQ form of discourse”.
“I find this postpartum body-shaming the lowest IQ form of discourse. I feel like people who engage in it are fools of the most pathetic kind. I cannot think of a more stupid and idiotic sort of way to spend your time than harassing new mothers or mothers in general, or women in general, frankly,” she said.
Swara said she does not believe thinness or conventional beauty should be treated as an achievement, even in an industry that thrives on appearances.
“Saying this sounds ironic as an actor, but I do not believe that there is any inherent virtue in being beautiful or being thin. You should be a good person, a decent person, a fit person or a healthy person, and that has nothing to do with thinness. You should be functionally fit for your own life; that’s it. Other than that, I feel there is no virtue in this. It is the construct of our glamour industry, and it is a constructed notion of beauty,” she said.
Drawing on her own experience of motherhood, Swara said she now understands just how physically and emotionally overwhelming the postpartum period can be. Referring to the trolling faced by Katrina Kaif and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan after becoming mothers, the actor spoke about the transformation women go through during childbirth and the scrutiny they face afterwards.
“Motherhood is like a tsunami, where a woman grows life in her body, in her soul. It just transforms you, and it’s a lot to deal with. So to even question women, to make these kinds of comments, it really shows a very low level of humanity and intelligence. And frankly, it’s a behaviour that should be absolutely pushed back and called out, and people should be shamed for doing it,” she said.
And when it comes to men commenting on women’s bodies, Swara’s message is straight to the point.
“I think men just need to shut up. Honestly, even if they’re not popular and famous, just leave women alone, leave moms alone. Please, we don’t need your attention,” she said.
Produced by Banijay Asia and hosted by Virender Sehwag, Rise & Fall Season 2 streams on Amazon MX Player at 12 pm.
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
