Can't Hold Her Down SWARA BHASKER

OUR DIGITAL COVERSTAR IS HERE TO MAKE MEMORABLE FILMS...BUT ALSO TO STAND UP AND SPEAK UP AGAINST INJUSTICES. COSMO ED NANDINI BHALLA GETS TO KNOW SWARA BHASKER—AND HER INNER STRENGTH—BETTER, AS THE ACTOR REVEALS WHAT’S ON HER MIND, IN A MANNER THAT IS REFRESHINGLY DIRECT.

- NANDINI BHALLA

Once upon a time, a man named Majnun fell hopelessly in love with a woman named Layla. So enraptured was Majnun by Layla, so desperately he pined for her, that tales of his burning love travelled far and wide...”

Swara Bhasker is narrating a legendary love story, in response to my question about beauty standards. I ask her how her personal concept of beauty has evolved over the years. “And so,” she continues, “a man who had heard of Majnun’s undying love, decided he simply had to meet Layla—a woman whose beauty must be beyond compare, to have driven her lover to such madness. The curious man travelled for many days and nights to arrive at Layla’s doorstep. But when he set eyes on her, he was horrified, for Layla was one of the most ordinary-looking women he had ever seen. Some might have even considered her ugly! This made the man furious, and he rushed over to Majnun to angrily demand what he could possibly see in a woman so...unattractive. Majnun, who had been languishing in a desert, responded with a smile and answered: ‘You must understand...to see Layla’s beauty, you need Majnun’s eyes’.”