Top 25 Swara Bhaskar Quotes

Mumbai is a spider web. You do a film and make 10 connections and do something else and make 10 more connections. You keep moving like that.

You have to look beyond your known limited experience. Politics should be based on compassion.

My parents are very democratic and liberal people who made the mistake of being democratic and liberal in the upbringing of their children! And in my case, they are still paying for it! Paying in the literal sense as well.

Being unapologetic about my body, my sexuality, my life’s decisions is a political belief that, as a feminist, I strongly espouse.

I feel that where I came from made me the actor that I am, and I wouldn’t want to trade that with anything else.

Frankly, Indian women inherit this collective cultural unconscious – this sense of guilt, shame, and dishonour. I think Indian girls need to become shameless and a little selfish, too.

In India, we are parented in a way that we get very good values. But the whole culture forgets to tell us to also value ourselves. It’s really OK sometimes to take into consideration your own happiness.

Remember that you have to be happy to make other people happy. Don’t get weighed down by duty, guilt, and responsibility all the time.

Bottom line is, off-beat film or commercial films, Tollywood or Bollywood, it’s the role that matters to me.

Once, I had a huge fight on a film set with an actor who threw tea on a spot boy’s face. I refused to shoot until he apologised.

Bollywood, as an industry, is based on relationships. It has always been star-driven, and it has an element of feudalism.

I am a self-destructive idiot.

When I came to Mumbai, I didn’t know a soul. The only person I knew was an assistant director, which, everyone agrees, is the lowest form of life on the set. So, it was not a great contact to have. So, I knew from day one that I wasn’t going to be launched opposite a superstar.

When I grew up, I realised what an amazing thing my parents did. It was such a big deal for my mom, a middle class woman, to decide to leave her children and husband to go and do her Ph.D. for three years. And my dad, who is even more middle class, a traditional South Indian, to let his wife do that.

I never saw myself as a character actor or a lead actor; I’ve only seen myself as just an actor.

Honestly, and seriously, I know I have to do a Telugu film. It was my grandmother’s dream to see me in a Telugu film before she died. I couldn’t fulfil her dream before she passed away, but I don’t want to let go of it, either.

I am an extremely laidback person when it comes to ‘looking hot.’

I have become a little more cynical and, I would like to believe, a little wiser. When I first came to Mumbai, I was very idealistic. Now I can look anyone in the face and tell a lie. But I’m in a good place.

I feel glamour has a legit place on the ramp and in the fashion world. In films, glamour has to service the story.

Lately, I have realised that as an actor, I am representing certain aspirations to the world, and it’s important that I respect the love people have for me.

In India, thousands of people want to be in the movies because Bollywood plays such a huge role in our lives.

I’ve been propositioned by men who were in a position to cast me. I lost a few roles because I didn’t give in.

I have had to answer questions like, ‘But you don’t look like lead material.’ Now, I still don’t know what ‘lead material’ looks like because everyone has eyes, a nose, and a face.

I was once caught climbing out of the classroom window while bunking a class. I lied that I had to go to the bathroom and the exit was crowded. The principal believed me.

In the industry, I am judged by what I wear. If I want to be taken seriously, I have to hire a team of stylists. It’s an occupational hazard. But it’s not as though I am any less of a feminist.