It looks like the process of polarization on ideological, if not religious grounds, has started in our film industry. Director Raaj Shaandilyaa who directed the hit Ayushman Khurrana film Dream Girl in 2019, has tweeted in Hindi against Swara Bhaskar (a vocal anti-establishment actor-activist in a derogatory language.
Writes Shandilya, “Sasti cheezon pe dhyan na de. ‘Swara Bhaskar’ se mehnga Dainik Bhaskar bikta hai (don’t pay any attention to cheap things. The newspaper Dainik Bhaskar sells for more than Swara Bhaskar.”
Shocked by the cheesiness of a colleague from the film fraternity. Swara tweeted back, “अगली बार role offer करने और आपकी फ़िल्म के trailer को share करने की request वाले messages भेजने के पहले आप भी ‘सस्ती हरकतों’ के बारे में थोड़ा सोच लेना! 🙂 Good luck sir! (the next time before offering me a role and asking me to share your film’s trailer you also think about ‘cheap behaviour’”
Livid at the tone of Shaandilyaa’s putdown Swara tells me, “Can you believe it? He offered me a part in Dream Girl and would request me to tweet his trailer etc.”
On a more pleasant note, Swara’s parents who live on the lately-besieged JNU campus in Delhi are safe after the attack on the campus.
Says Swara, “Mom got home at 2 am on Tuesday morning after the mobs outside the JNU gates were dispersed. It was very scary. But the people of Delhi who reached JNU’s north gate saved the campus on Monday night. The role of the Delhi police was despicable.”
