“No famous friends. No boyfriend. No godfather. I am in a happy state of affairs,” says Swara Bhaskar, an ‘outsider’ in Bollywood. She has had five releases in the last five years. “And I got those roles all after the tedious, long route of auditions,” she adds. “But I have been lucky. What you finally watch on screen in just 0.5 per cent of the pool of genuine talent that’s out there waiting for a foot in the door. There are people more talented than me but I got my chances. I am ambitious. I want to do it all — arty, non-commercial as well as commercial films,” says the actor of films such as Tanu Weds Manu , Listen…Amaya , Aurangzeb and Ranjhanaa .
Swara is now acting in one of her most commercial movies till date — Debolay Dey’s Macchli Jal Ki Rani Hai — a horror flick (releasing on June 13). “I simply hate the horror genre. So I said an outright no when the film came to me. I didn’t want to spend 45 days of my life being scared. I have a childhood fear of darkness. But the director persisted and I mustered the courage for a narration. I agreed only after I realised that as an actor I wasn’t really challenging myself. I needed to push myself out of my comfort zone.”
Swara plays a possessed woman in the film that was shot in Pachmarhi (MP). “We shot in the day but during the nights I totally freaked out back in the hotel. Fifty eight days of fear!” she says.
Then there is the role of a muddled traffic cop in Abbas Tyrewala’s Mango . “That’s an amazing role. My character is a traffic cop who is terrified of guns. It’s a refreshing role. Abbas is a wonderful filmmaker with a very unique way of looking at things.” Swara has also signed a film by Ashwini Iyer Tiwari (advertising professional and wife of Bhootnath Returns’ director Nimesh Tiwari) titled Nil Bate Sannata . “It’s a lovely film which I fell in love with. I play mom to a 14-year old girl. It’s very challenging since I play a character much older than me. In a way, it is reminiscent of Listen…Amaya (where she played the daughter of Deepti Naval).”
But the biggest film in her kitty now is Sooraj Barjatya’s Bade Bhaiyya which also features Salman Khan, Sonam Kapoor and Neil Nitin Mukesh. “I loved Hum Aapke... I am a family-oriented person who is in touch with all of my extended family. In fact, I haven’t ever been able to shake off my Chitrahaar hangover. The Barjatyas are some of the nicest people to work with in this place. Yes, you will see me more made-up than ever before and in more elaborate Indian clothing but it’s a lovely experience.”
Swara says that sometimes she wonders if she is cut out for the industry at all. “I don’t care about my looks. But I have learnt that grooming is very essential. I have had to unlearn a lot that way. Before a body makeover, I’ve had to have a soul makeover. The structure of our industry is very feudal even though not consciously. But I hand it to Mumbai — this place does not keep your talent down.”
