In the wake of the ongoing anti-racism protests around the West, Bollywood actress Swara Bhasker is trying hard to make the headlines herself. After West Indies cricketer Darren Swamy accused his teammates in the Indian Premier League of calling him by a racist nickname, Swara Bhasker has taken upon the mantle of ‘social justice’ herself. Darren himself snubbed Swara by asking not to use his incident to make a big issue out of it, rather he asked it to be used for educating each other so that it does not happen again.
Amid this, netizens reminded the actress of crass remarks she had used herself in the past for a four-year-old child actor. A user reminded her of the occasion on which she had called a four-year-old child ‘ch**iya’ and ‘kam**a’ on live television.
Ok, but you can call a 4 year old kid a ch****, and believe that kids are evil…?? https://t.co/S7yPjyTVHJ pic.twitter.com/Fq4gqZdHJe
— Dhanesh? (@dekhajayega_) June 12, 2020
The incident was narrated by Swara herself during a TV chat show while telling about her first days in the entertainment industry. Talking about an ad film that she was shooting with the child actor, she said in the show that the ‘ch**iya’ and ‘kam**a’ child had called her aunty, while she had just entered the industry.
When this was pointed out today by social media users, Swara Bhasker chose to defend herself saying that she had said the crass word ‘in her head’ and the child did not hear it. She claims that it was a ‘fictional retelling’ of an event.
Listen to the clip.
— Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) June 12, 2020
1. Said it in my head.
2. Child didn’t hear it.
3. It’s a fictional retelling of a comic situation on a comedy show.
Don’t make #falseequivalences https://t.co/sRGje7ox2A
However, in another tweet, Swara Bhasker claimed that the child himself was ‘fictional’. And she also adds that the child didn’t hear the abusive words that she had used for him. By saying that the child didn’t hear it, Swara Bhaskar implies that using abusive words for others is OK as long as the subject of such words don’t hear it.
It appears that the actress tied herself in knots while trying to justify using crass words against a child on live television. One time she says that her words were a ‘fictional retelling’ of an event while on other occasions, she claims that the child himself is ‘fictional’, while she also said that child didn’t hear it.
Child was fictional. He never heard the words. Daren is a real person. There’s a difference but go ahead.. false equivalence aapki khaasiyat hai. ?????? https://t.co/QaVQW4CsEB
— Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) June 12, 2020
In the video, however, it is clear that Swara Bhasker is referring to a very real event. She described her experience in one of her initial shoots for an ad for a soap and narrated that she was addressed by a child as ‘aunty’, which prompted her to abuse the child in her head. When the video first surfaced on social media, it created an outrage then as well since people did not take kindly to a child being abused for the purpose of comedy.
