Swara Bhasker says Kangana Ranaut’s ‘B-grade’ comment about her came from an ‘agenda’

Swara Bhasker, in a new interview, reacted to Kangana Ranaut’s ‘B-grade’ jibe about her. She said that she was unaffected by it as she knew it was coming from an ‘agenda’ and was not a ‘fair criticism’ of her work.

Last year, Kangana Ranaut called Swara Bhasker and Taapsee Pannu ‘B-grade actresses’, and claimed that they deny the drawbacks of nepotism to win Karan Johar’s favour. She went on to say that despite professing their allegiance towards him, they don’t ‘get work’.

Talking to Bollywood Bubble about being termed ‘B-grade’, Swara said, “I think I was lucky that when anybody raised that kind of comment about my work, there were so many people to defend me. I didn’t have to say anything myself. I think I also understand where some of these vicious comments come from - an agenda. They are not actually commenting on my work, they are not even commenting on my performance. I would accept a fair criticism of my performance.”

Swara said that she can watch her performances, even those that are counted among her best, and talk about where she went wrong. She explained that while she is open to fair criticism, she feels that comments like Kangana’s come under the umbrella of ‘trolling’. “I don’t take that stuff seriously because I don’t take trolling seriously. I think it’s completely silly, baseless, pointless.”

“I think all of that stuff says more about that person than it does about me. When people talk like that… If you are making a fair and valid critique, I would really still accept it. But what is there to feel bad about someone who is just showing you their lowest self? Why should I feel bad? They should feel bad,” she added.

Kangana and Swara worked together in two films -- Tanu Weds Manu and Tanu Weds Manu Returns. The two would constantly take digs at each other on Twitter, until Kangana was banned from the platform earlier this year.

Swara will be seen next in a same-sex love story, titled Sheer Qorma, opposite Divya Dutta. Kangana’s next release, meanwhile, is Thalaivi, a film on the life of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa.