Happy Birthday, Swara Bhaskar

 It is  perhaps  no coincidence that  two of my favourite people from the Hindi film industry Jaya Bachchan and Swara  Bhaskar are  born on  the same day. 

 It is  perhaps  no coincidence that  two of my favourite people from the Hindi film industry Jaya Bachchan and Swara  Bhaskar are  born on  the same day.  Of course I’ve known Swara for a   much shorter  time… for obvious reasons! But in avery short span of time  we’ve come to  share a mutual  warmth and respect for each other’s work and space, which I find to be a refreshing change from some of the clingy friendships  from the past which have  gone kaput because of excessive  exuberance.

 My equation with Swara is  just right. It is  nurturing and healthy. I first saw Swara  on screen in my dear friend Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish where she had a walk-on part  as a  television anchor. Nothing there gave  us any inkling  of what was to come. Such  unvarnished  naturalistic  performances in  Tanu Weds Manu, Nil Battey Sannatta and specially Anaarkali  Of Arrah.

There  is an honesty about  Swara easily comfortably and   fluently reflected on screen.  In recent times she has  become a  vocal opponent of vote politics and the politics of oppression. And if this means losing out on  roles, so be it.

 Swara   celebrated her  birthday two years  ago in 2019  with us  at our home in Patna. Who  was to know that her  next two birthdays  would be  “celebrated” in quarantine?

On April 9,2019 Swara was  in Bihar  to canvas  for  her favourite  candidate   Kanhaiya Kumar. She drove  down to his  constituency  in Begusarai on  April 8 and drove  back early in  the morning to come home  in April to spend a  couple  of hours with us before flying back to Mumbai.We had  ordered a cake for her and  we had a little party for her. Swara looked  happy and at home. She is  that kind of a girl. No fuss. No frills.   She promised to come back soon  again.

Life has changed so  much since then. I wonder  when  things would be like before. This is Swara’s second birthday  since the  Virus. She  is  missing her  friends on this her special day. Hopefully  next year she can have them all  over for  her birthday.