‘She should first study it and then speak on it’: Maithili Thakur slams Swara Bhasker over her remarks on Jauhar scene in Padmaavat

RAIPUR: Bihar BJP MLA Maithili Thakur, also a singer, criticised actress Swara Bhasker over her remarks on ‘Jauhar’ in the film Padmaavat.

Speaking to the media, Maithili said, “This was a really ugly remark. She made a useless remark with full confidence. I think she should not speak on it, if she has no knowledge of it. She should first study it and then speak on it”.

#WATCH | Raipur, Chhattisgarh: On Swara Bhaskar’s recent remark on ‘Jauhar’, Bihar BJP MLA Maithili Thakur says, “This was a really ugly remark. She made a useless remark with full confidence. I think she should not speak on it, if she has no knowledge of it. She should first… pic.twitter.com/0YmkZQsDti

— ANI (@ANI) September 5, 2026

Swara has been facing backlash online over comments she made at an event in New Delhi earlier this week. She reportedly said that Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film glorified ‘Jauhar’, an ancient practice of mass self- immolation by Rajput women to avoid being captured by invading forces.

As per Swara, the Jauhar sequence shown towards the end of the film could send the wrong message to rape survivors.

“I was watching it, and I thought that if God forbid, I was a rape survivor, what is this film telling me? I would feel like a coward that I didn’t commit suicide to save my honour. Is that what you want to tell in a society like ours where I feel like anyway there is a rape epidemic. Is this what we want to tell our survivors that they don’t deserve to live, that if you actually would have be a honourable and brave women, you would have killed yourself. Are we saying that rape is end of a woman’s life? This scene was so problematic,” she said.

Swara Bhaskar speaks about her letter to filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali on the scene of Jauhar in the movie Padmavat pic.twitter.com/6X4Z0SvFtC

— Yeshi Seli (@YeshiSeli) August 31, 2026

Swara mentioned that one particular scene that left her deeply disturbed was the close-up of a pregnant woman’s belly as she took part in the Jauhar.

Earlier, actor Ranvir Shorey also called out Swara over her controversial statement. In a post on X, he questioned her for drawing a connection between the Jauhar scene and rape survivors.

“I still don’t get it! Comparing Jauhar (suicide by fire in defiance of inevitable and endless rape, violence and even necrophilia!) to rape survivors? Where’s the connection? They’re two completely different sets! The only intention can be to malign one group of people while trying to whitewash the other! Utterly shameless!” he wrote.

Directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Padmaavat stars Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, and Ranveer Singh in lead roles. (ANI)