‘We Should Have a Civil Conduct on Social Media’: Swara Bhaskar

Known for speaking her mind, actress Swara Bhaskar, who has often been a victim of trolling and online bullying, says like any other public sphere, social media should also have a civil conduct.

Asked if social media bullying bothers her, Swara said, “It used to bother me in the beginning when it happened and I felt very hurt. I felt it was very unjust... Then I realised life is unjust. They are not doing it out of a sense of justice but doing it from a place of viciousness, hatred or genuine malintent. So what would you do about that? They have no identity. I became inured to it.”

Swara added that “social media is a virtual public sphere and like other public spaces we should have a civil conduct on social media. It is a virtual public space”.

Talking about the kind of work she wants to do now, Swara said: “I am at a strange point... because after ‘Nil Battey Sannata’, ‘Anarkali’ and ‘Veere Di Wedding’, I am like ‘What should my next script be?’ I don’t know how to up that because I feel the standards have become too high for scripts. I have not signed a film after ‘Veere Di Wedding’.”

Over her nine-year-journey in Bollywood, Swara has essayed relatable characters like Chanda from “Nil Battey Sannata” or Bindiya from “Raanjhanaa”.

“I have been very lucky also with the kind of roles I have been given or that I have landed even if they have been in the supporting category or protagonist roles... I can’t control what I am offered but I can control what I choose. So, I am very careful about what I choose.”

The actress said she is “dying” to do the movies based on dancing around the trees “but now the dancing around the trees in Switzerland is not happening. So, I feel like I am 20 years late in the industry”. (IANS)