New Delhi- Prominent film critic and author Anna MM Vetticad has responded to actor Tamannaah Bhatia's recent comments about her 2015 article, "The Rape of Avanthika." Vetticad has characterized Bhatia's interpretation of the decade-old critique as "the most inexplicable and absurd response" she has received, accusing the actor of intentionally conflating the critique of sexual violence with an aversion to sex and of being a mouthpiece for an "oppressive system."

The controversy stems from a recent interview Bhatia gave to The Lallantop, where she was asked about the representation of female bodies on screen and specifically about Vetticad's article. The 2015 piece, published in The Hindu Businessline, was a critique of a scene in S.S. Rajamouli’s "Baahubali: The Beginning." Vetticad had described a sequence where the male lead, Prabhas, alters the warrior Avanthika's (played by Bhatia) attire, unties her hair, and applies makeup against her will, culminating in her falling in love with him, as a "symbolic – and romanticised – representation of the violation of a woman’s consent in sexual relations."

In her interview, however, Bhatia framed the article as a personal attack and an attempt to control her. She began her response by stating, "When people can’t control you, they use shame and guilt as a technique to make you feel that you must feel ashamed of whatever you do." She then spoke about sexual repression in society and made a personal remark about Vetticad, stating, "If you show someone the purest thing, but if that person thinks sex is a bad thing or your body is a bad thing or your entire system is a bad thing, then that’s all they will see."

Vetticad, in her rebuttal, clarified that her article was exclusively about the film's narrative and not about Bhatia as an individual. She expressed bewilderment at the actor's interpretation, asking, "Why would I want to control a stranger to whom I have no personal ties?"

"This is not about me though. The issue here is the deep-seated internalised misogyny that prompted Bhatia to defend a portrayal of stalking, harassment and violence as courtship, and the normalisation of sexual violence in a film.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2022 report, India records 51 cases of crimes against women every hour. (Source: Times of India) Women in India suffer acid attacks, rape and have even been killed by men who are socially conditioned to ignore or avenge rejection. That scene in Baahubali showed a woman initially enraged at the repeated violation of her bodily integrity by a man, but eventually making love to him. It is dangerous because it echoes what our society tells boys and men: that when a woman says no, she means maybe or yes; that true love or genuine attraction means persisting even after she rejects your advances; and that it is up to a man to “make her realise” (to quote an oft-used phrase) how beautiful she is.

In such circumstances, I don’t care about Bhatia’s demeaning comments aimed at me, or her pretence that she does not know me or of me – we have met, and even spent time together. Besides, she has clearly devoted lots of time to thinking about my article for an entire decade," Anna stated.

She also pointed out that she and Bhatia have met and spent time together, countering the actor's pretence of not knowing her.

The core of Vetticad's rejoinder shifts focus from the personal exchange to what she calls the "deep-seated internalised misogyny" in Bhatia's defence of the scene. Vetticad argued that the scene is dangerous as it normalises a toxic narrative for men: that a woman's "no" can be overcome by persistence and that violation can be a prelude to romance. She cited the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2022 report, which records 51 crimes against women every hour in India, to underscore the real-world impact of such cinematic tropes that trivialise the lack of consent.

Vetticad stated that she is not concerned about Bhatia's "demeaning comments" aimed at her personally, but rather about the actor's "dangerous messaging." She expressed disappointment that a celebrity with a powerful platform would "publicly made false allegations about 'The Rape of Avanthika', and intentionally conflated sexual violence with sex to confuse the audience." She concluded by stating that Bhatia is a "mere instrument, a mouthpiece, for an oppressive system that seeks to subjugate women."

Lamenting that sections of the media reported Bhatia's comments without critical analysis, Vetticad, describing herself as a middle-class individual without a massive PR machinery, has called upon the public and media to amplify her rejoinder to foster a necessary conversation that "conservatives and misogynists like Bhatia do not want us to have."