Bollywood star Swara Bhaskar has sparked a heated debate after linking Sanjay Leela Bhansali's infamous Padmaavat Jauhar scene to the plight of rape survivors. The actress, known for her outspoken views, recently made a scathing remark about the sequence during a recent talk at the India International Centre in Delhi.

Ranvir Shorey, another prominent Bollywood actor, has now weighed in on Swara's comments, calling them "utterly shameless". Taking to X, Ranvir expressed his frustration with Swara's interpretation of the Jauhar scene, questioning the connection she drew between the historical practice and the struggles of modern-day rape survivors.

Still don’t get it! comparing

"I still don’t get it! Comparing Jauhar to the trauma faced They’re two completely different sets of issues! It’s clear that Swara's intention was to malign the film, not shed light on this critical social issue," Ranvir wrote in his post.

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Swara had previously written an open letter to Sanjay Leela Bhansali, expressing her concerns about the Jauhar scene. During the talk, she made a powerful statement, saying, "If I were a rape survivor, watching that film would make me feel like a coward for not taking my own life to save my honour."

"Is this what we want to tell our survivors that they don’t deserve to live? That if you’re an honourable and brave woman, you should kill yourself?" Swara asked, her words sparking outrage among some in the audience. The actress also recalled a particularly disturbing scene featuring a pregnant woman performing Jauhar, which left her visibly shaken.

"The unborn fetus, potentially a girl, didn’t deserve to be born because it might be raped – that’s what this scene tells us," Swara said, her voice laced with disgust. The actress's comments were met with backlash on social media, with many critics arguing that the Jauhar sequence should not be described as cowardly.

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Swara later took to Instagram to clarify her remarks, stating that she never intended to call Rani Padmavati a coward. She questioned whether films like Padmaavat should be made if they "send the message that a woman’s purity is more valuable than her life?"

"Should we be telling a rape survivor that it would have been better if they had died, and that surviving the assault was a bad thing?" Swara asked, her words serving as a powerful reminder of the ongoing struggle for women's rights.

Padmaavat writer Prakash Kapadia has since come out in support of the Jauhar sequence, calling it "the reality of those times". While he acknowledged that Swara's comments were unnecessary, Kapadia defended the film's portrayal of a society where women faced extreme oppression.