Indian Actress Introduces Vibrators to Hindi Cinema

BOLLYWOOD—An Indian actress has created her own Sex and the City moment in Hindi cinema, and the move has been met with some controversy, as well as big box office returns. Swara Bhasker is one of the stars of Veere di Wedding, which opened June 1. The film started drawing attention even before its debut, since it has no male lead and focuses on a group of four women and their issues and concerns. But a racy—at least by Bollywood standards—scene featuring Bhasker has social media trolls in an uproar. Bhasker plays an entitled rich woman married to a man who doesn’t satisfy her sexually. She eventually takes matters into her own hands, so to speak, and uses a vibrator to pleasure herself. Her self-pleasuring act is only suggested in the film, and there is no nudity, but it marks the first vibrator seen in Hindi cinema. Since the movie’s release, social media trolls have tried to force a boycott of the movie; one account tweeted he’d taken his grandmother to the movie and she was appalled by the scene. Fans of the movie, however, have pointed out the exact same tweet, right down to the misspellings, has been tweeted out by several different handles, making it look like the work of bots. The actress, who considers herself a bit of an activist, is taking it all in stride, especially since the “controversy” has drawn more people into the theaters to see Veere di Wedding. To date, the film has one of the biggest box openings ever for a film without a male star.