Vivek Agnihotri defends 'Padmaavat', calls Swara 'urban naxal'

Mumbai: Swara Bhaskar's open letter to Sanjay Leela Bhansali critiquing his latest biopic 'Padmaavat' has been drawing flak from all quarters and Bollywood director and producer Vivek Agnihotri is the latest addition to it. 

Calling Swara a "fake feminist," the 'Hate Story' director said, "The problem is that these urban naxals have a very smart strategy. Their idea is to divide people, man vs woman and all that. and whatever you say they only think in sexual terms. They reduce everything to sex."

Also read: Swara Bhaskar gives it back to critiques calling her out for using 'vagina'

Actor Swara Bhaskar had earlier written an open letter to director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, originally published in The Wire, where she suggested that she felt "reduced to a vagina" while watching 'Padmaavat'.

"Women have the right to live despite being raped, sir. Women have the right to live, despite the death of their husbands, male 'protectors', 'owners', 'controllers of their sexuality'.. whatever you understand the men to be," Swara wrote in her letter.

Agnihotri said that if there is a gathering of 50 people, out of them even if ten are leftist women, sooner or later they will come up with the accusation that they have been molested and in most cases, the accusation is false.

Also read: Padmaavat: Bollywood reacts on Swara Bhasker’s open letter; she says no mal-intent

"Now the problem with this particular tweet was that it was very fake, right? It was creating unnecessary outrage to gain publicity and it was provoking people," Agnihotri said, slamming Swara's open letter.

Invoking the millions of Indian women who, despite living in extremely difficult conditions, are enabling themselves, Agnihotri said, "when Swara Bhaskar and the gang of her naxals...when they say this kind of provocative, demeaning kind of things and use this kind of language, they reduce a noble cause, a war which this world is fighting, to nothing and towards sexual thing."

Agnihotri cited the example of his grandmother, mother and other female relatives, as well as ex-naxal women who he has interviewed in Bastar, to say that if one looks at the ratio in the world, Indian women are "getting extremely empowered".

"...And I believe," he added, "I am convinced if a next revolution has to come to this world, it will come through Indian women."