Tamannaah Bhatia Reacts To Old 'Rape Of Avantika' Article Criticising Baahubali Scene: 'She Was Finding Herself Through A Man'

Actress Tamannaah Bhatia recently appeared on a podcast wherein she justified the much-debated scene from the film, Baahubali, which some people thought was highly inappropriate. In fact, an article had gone viral back then titled 'The Rape Of Avantika', and Tamannaah has now said that it was not rape, but rather a woman finding herself once again with the help of a man.

For those unversed, in the scene, Prabhas' character Shivudu strips Tamannaah and applies natural makeup on her in a bid to reinvoke her femininity which she would otherwise keep wrapped under layers of clothing and a tough exterior. A section of the audience had slammed the scene, stating that it was blatant objectification of women, and that it glorified men abusing women.

"If someone thinks sex is a bad thing and your body is a bad thing, that's what they'll see. Because that's their perspective. A filmmaker wants to show you something very beautiful, but you see something else. That's their thinking. I don't think I take the burden of that and, as creative people, I don't think it was the rape of Avantika. It was Avantika finding herself through a young man who was wooing her," she said on Lallantop.

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She further explained, "I remember when Rajamouli sir was explaining that entire sequence to me, he was like, 'She is that divine feminine, who is wounded. She is beautiful. She is feminine. She wants to be loved. But, she has gone through so much hardship in her life that she feels like she needs to push everybody away. She can't let anybody inside because they will always take advantage of her. So, she holds boundaries. But, here, there is a young man who is merely trying to woo her to make her see how beautiful she is'."

"If you had to show it visually, then there was an entire sequence about some bangles being worn, bindi appearing on her forehead - when she sees herself, sees her own face - she sees 'oh, I always thought I had to be my warrior.' She had made herself so strong that her essence, her innocence, had gotten lost somewhere. And this is Shiva's character who helps her reconnect with herself. This was the vision," she added.

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Tamannaah also opined on how sexual relationships and intimacy are looked down on in Indian society till date. "In our country, people look down upon the idea of the process by which you and I are here today. If our parents didn't come together, I don't think you'd be here. Neither would I nor would anybody else be. And we look down upon it so much, we are so repressed," she stated.

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"The thing that is so pure, we look at it from the dirtiest perspective. That perspective makes us all feel that we have to be ashamed of that aspect of our lives - to hide and not discuss or we can't be open about that conversation," she added.

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On the work front, Tamannaah will be next seen in the film, Vvan: Force Of The Forest, co-starring Sidharth Malhotra. The film draws its story from Indian mythology and is set in Central India. It is scheduled to hit the silver screens in May next year.