Sep 08, 2026 13:53 pm IST

Opinion | Why The Jauhar Scene In Padmaavat Needs To Be Seen For What It Does

The practice of 'jauhar' was certainly abolished long ago. But that does not mean that it should be romanticised or glorified in mass culture.

Shuma Raha Shuma Raha Columnist

Actor Swara Bhasker has rekindled an old controversy that had been sparked by her open letter to filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali back in 2018. At an event in Delhi last week, Bhasker referred to the letter where she had written about her discomfort with the scene in Bhansali's film Padmaavat, where Rani Padmini and hundreds of other women of Chittor commit 'jauhar' (self-immolation) after the kingdom falls to Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khilji's forces.

“I was watching it, and I thought that if, God forbid, I was a rape survivor, what is this film telling me?” Bhasker said. “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? … Are we saying that rape is (the) end of a woman's life? This scene was so problematic.”

Hordes of internet trolls and other worthies immediately twisted Bhasker's comment and claimed that she had called the women of Chittor who had jumped into the fire “cowards”. A torrent of foul insults and abuse followed. The essence of this deranged, self-fulfilling outrage was that Bhasker had belittled the bravery and honour of Hindu women while trying to whitewash the misdeeds of a Muslim invading........

© NDTV