'Industry is being made out as villainous place with heartless people'

Swara Bhasker (Picture courtesy/AFP)

Sushant Singh Rajput's death has left the Hindi film industry divided, with many calling out the power structures in Bollywood for sidelining the late actor. However, actress Swara Bhasker says it's sad that the Hindi film industry is being portrayed as "an awful" place with "cold" and "heartless" people.

Kangana Ranaut, in a recent interview, accused Swara and Taapsee Pannu of not speaking up for Sushant and supporting "Bollywood mafias" instead.

Speaking to CNN-News18, Swara, however, said, "I just feel it's very sad that industry is being made out as this villainous, awful place with cold, heartless people. I mean it's not entirely true. It's competitive and probably very cruel in its power display. But so is life and so is our society. The industry is like a free market. It is a private enterprise and most of us are contract labourers. So, all of the negatives of that kind of a structure comes here too. It's just because of the showbiz and glamour aspect we're under a lot more scrutiny. That is not to say that there aren't success stories."

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Sushant's death has triggered the outsider-insider debate in the industry, with several members of the industry coming forward and sharing their bitter experiences.

Talking about the same, Swara said, "This is not a debate where two sides are presenting their views quite equally. Me, Taapsee Pannu, Richa Chadha and Anurag Kashyap have now spoken but this is just because our names were dragged into this whole issue. I didn't choose to begin this whole conversation, I got dragged into it. It seems that the whole framework of this conversation has been set by this completely hysterical mob that is just looking to vilify people without facts or logic. It just looks like that there is this bloodthirsty need to find villains. Sadly, the reality might not be that. It doesn't feel right to turn the personal tragedy of the suicide of such a bright, talented, and successful star... I feel everyone needs to just take a step back and ask ourselves, 'What are we doing?' Police are doing their job and I'm sure they'll do it fairly."

Also Read: Anurag Kashyap says he tried to 'sort things out' between Kangana Ranaut and Taapsee Pannu

Reacting to Kangana's "B-grade actress" comment on her, Swara said, "It didn't entirely come as a surprise. Kangana has adopted a certain tone in talking about those who don't agree with what she is saying on a particular point. I wasn't necessarily surprised by that. I was a little taken aback that she should drag us into a sort of needless debate and name-calling on a public platform, on national television. It's fine. People have the right to say what they feel like. I'm a democratic person and I will defend her right to exercise her freedom of expression."

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