Swara Bhaskar: 'Nil Battey Sannata' was not a career suicide

Swara Bhaskar, the dusky diva who never fails to surprise us with her choice of roles, confidently played a mother to a teenager in Ashwini Iyer Tiwari's recently released, 'Nil Battey Sannata'. In a candid conversation with Timesofindia.com, Swara opened up about her choice of roles, her academics, which she left behind, and much more. Excerpts from the interview:
Read also: Swara Bhaskar visits Kashi Vishwanath temple
Despite being in your 20s, you played a mom to a 15-year-old in 'Nil Battey Sannata'.It calls for a lot of security in an actor to take up such role?
I was crazy enough to take up such a role. When Ashwini offered me this film, I thought she was offering me the part of the 15-year-old so I thought 'oh wow, I look so young.' But when she cleared that it was actually the role of the teenager's mother, it hit my ego. I thought, was she trying to indirectly suggest that I look like an aunty. That meeting ended very rapidly. I read the script to refuse it; I was reading it with a wrong intention. But when I was done, I realized 'Oh my God! How can I say no?' All my friends said, 'This is a career suicide, don't do it. What's wrong with you? First you played Salman Khan's sister, now you becoming a mom to a 15-year-old, now will you play a granny in your next film? Don't you want to ever become a heroine?' But I thought about two things. Firstly, fear is a very negative emotion. Never take a decision based on fear. Secondly, what kind of an actor you would be to pass up such a challenge. It is always easier to play roles younger than yourself because you remember that first love, first kiss, first heartbreak. But even if I become a mother now, I will not know how it is to be a mom to a 15-year-old. That challenge was too tempting for me, so I took that risk. But very soon I realized that it is not a career suicide.

How were you academically as a child?
I was not a bad student. I always got more than 70-75 percent aggregate. I was weak in maths, science and economics. But I was an art student. I loved history, English literature and political science. I studied literature and sociology and was very fond of these subjects. Before I became an actor, I was planning to take my GRE ' the entrance exam for higher studies like Ph.D, finance or anthropology. But then I decided to do away with my education and come to Bollywood. (Laughs)

What thought process goes behind choosing a good role?
Every film you do is for a different reason. 'Tanu Weds Manu' was my debut film, so of course, I had to be in the sequel. I did 'Raanjhanaa' as I could not say no to Aanand sir. 'Prem Ratan Dhan Payo' was an opportunity to work with Salman Khan, Sooraj Barjatya and Rajshri Productions. 'Listen' Amaya' was with Farooq Shaikh and Deepti Naval and because I wanted to work with them, I said yes. Actors are very people; everybody wants to play either Romeo or Juliet. If it's not Romeo or Juliet, I have to play a character which gives me enough scope to perform. It should be something that can engage me enough throughout the making of the film. If the film is not centred around my character then I work even harder to ensure that the character becomes a memorable one and stays in the audience's minds for long. It has to be something that excites and challenges me.

What's the next surprise?
I have a film called 'Anarkali Aarawali' based in Bihar. It is about a feisty girl from Aara which is a very volatile and politically charged up city. It is the story of a dance group from the city.

Any message for your female fans?
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. You are amazing as you are. And' don't believe the sh*t in magazines, it's all photoshopped.