Swara talks on human trafficking
Swara Bhaskar is known for her straightforwardness on screen and off it. So, it was just a match made in heaven that she landed the role of a tough cop, ACP Radha Nautiyal, in the 'Eros Now' web series 'Flesh'. The actor plays a police officer who is fighting the heinous crime of human trafficking and it looks like the role is just as tough as her public persona.
In an exclusive conversation with a leading newspaper, Swara spoke about playing a cop, human trafficking and completing a decade in the film industry.
The 'Veere Di Wedding' actor declared that playing a cop was a big first for her and she was excited to take it up. She shared that for male actors, something like this is a milestone. She also mentioned that there are so many female actors whose entire career goes by and they do not get to don the uniform.
Speaking about her web series 'Flesh', Swara shared that the issue of human trafficking demands as much attention as it can get.
"It is such a shameful thing that in the 21st century, human trafficking is still a thing that is happening. The most gruesome reality about trafficking is that there are people in this world who would do that to children. That is just unforgivable as it is pure evil. I was most stunned and disturbed by the complicity of the civil society in this whole thing," she said.
As there are parallel tracks on the show, Swara said that she was lucky in terms of her part as 'it represents hope.' She described the basic narrative of 'Flesh' as a story of good versus evil, where she is fighting the good fight. While the subject matter in itself is quite emotionally draining, the actor said that she 'would find hope in the fact that like my character in the show is fighting against this heinous crime, there must be people in real life who are doing the same thing.'
Since she was playing a cop for the first time, there was a lot of research involved in her preparation. During her research, Bhasker shared she spoke to a lot of cops and found something in common.
"I was very struck by the fact that there was a very palpable frustration that I felt in all of them. Everyone said the same thing which was basically that 'We work so hard, we risk our lives but the system gets manipulated so easily by the criminals'. So I took that and used that frustration as Radha's motivating factor," said the actor.
'Flesh' comes soon after Swara's 'Amazon Prime Video' series 'Rasbhari', but the 'Anaarkali of Aarah' actor is actually a veteran in the digital space.
The release of 'Flesh' also marks Swara's completion of a decade in the entertainment industry. Looking back at
her varied experiences, the actor recalled working with Farooq Shaikh, Shyam Benegal and Sooraj Barjatya. In the next decade, Swara has plans to work behind the camera.
