Sanjay Leela Bhansali successfully managed to bring their dream film- Padmaavat to the silver screen amid all the controversies. Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh gave their two years solely to the period drama and the efforts have worked wonders. However, Swara Bhasker is not really happy with the progress of the film and in fact has called it a ‘regressive film’ due to the ‘jauhar’ scene. An open letter she wrote to SLB where she mentioned that she felt like ‘reduced to a vagina’ after watching the movie and this has not gone well with the film fraternity and fans. After Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh, now maker Sanjay Leela Bhansali and lead star Deepika Padukone have reacted to the controversial issue.

Deepika was pretty straight forward on Swara’s opinion. The dimpled actress stated that Swara must have gone to have popcorn while the disclaimers were shown! Speaking to a TV Channel, she said, “She probably missed the disclaimer at the beginning of the film. You probably went out to buy some popcorn and missed the initial disclaimers that come out. I think, secondly, the fact that it is important to view a film in totality and to see in which period it was set in. Third of all, I think for me this film is not just about the act (jauhar) that they all committed, but it stood for so much more. For me, it’s a celebration of women and their strength, power and dignity.”

In an interview to Mid-day, Bhansali reacted to the letter saying,” Jauhar, in this context, is an act of war. Our men have died on the battlefield, but the war doesn’t end there. They believe that the Rajputs have been vanquished. But, the women wage the [final] war. They decide that not a single woman or child would be subjugated to rape, or violation. That’s what happened then. So, are people questioning Padmavati’s decision?”

The Devdas maker further added, “This is what transpired, and I can’t question her. In those days, when there was no solution, harakiri [method of suicide] was prevalent. I can’t question it. It is like asking why the Taj Mahal was made when the money spent in doing so could have been used for charity.”

Well, that was that from the makers side! Even though the Veere Di Wedding actress slammed Bhansali, she sent an appreciation text to Ranveer Singh for his performance as Alauddin Khilji. So, what is your take on this whole ‘reducing to a vagina’ controversy? Post your thoughts in the comments section below.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 01, 2018 01:45 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).