Shweta Tiwari explains bra statement controversy; Director says ‘it was a joke’

During the promotion of an upcoming web series in Bhopal, actor Shweta Tiwari landed in a controversy for allegedly referring to God while making a statement about her undergarment. Soon, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister, Narottam Mishra, directed the police to investigate her remark.

Director-writer Manish Harishankar says, “We had a press conference for our web series, Showstopper, in Bhopal. Through the show, we want to create awareness around the profession of a bra fitter, a relatively untouched territory in India. Additionally, the show talks about the significance and contribution of the professional which adds to the overall health and confidence of a woman. In the show, while Shweta plays a fashion designer, Saurabh Raaj Jain (actor) will be seen as a bra fitter.”

Harishankar further explains that Jain, who played different deities, including Lord Vishnu and Lord Krishna, in mythological shows such as Mahabharat, Devon Ke Dev… Mahadev and Mahakali, was questioned by the media about now playing a bra fitter.“That’s when Shweta, who was on the dias with the other cast members, made a statement, ‘Mere bra ki size bhagwan le rahen hain’ (God is taking the measurements for my bra). And the statement went viral. Anyone who sees the video will know the context and exact content of the statement. Shweta’s statement was a joke in reference to Saurabh during the press conference, nothing else.” The show also stars actors Kanwaljit Singh, Rohit Roy and Digangana Suryavanshi.

He says they didn’t “anticipate that the statement would take such a turn”. With some parts yet to be shot in Bhopal, he says the cops have asked for the footage of the press conference.

The writer-director assures that the show talks about “women empowerment” and is talking about an “important issue”. “It is a positive story, family oriented and clean in every way. Just because the subject is about bra fitting doesn’t mean it is not clean. Even Akshay Kumar’s film Pad Man (2018) was on sanitary napkins but the subject was explored in a clean fashion, and people liked it. We, too, are treating this crucial subject sensitively. There is not a single wrong dialogue or scene,” he signs off. Meanwhile Shweta Tiwari issued a clarification on the recent fiasco due her statement at a press conference: It has come to my notice that a certain statement of mine referring to a colleague’s previous role has been taken out of context and has been misconstrued. When put in context, one will understand that the statement in reference to ‘Bhagwan’ was in context with Sourabh Raj Jain’s popular role of a deity. People associate character names to actors and hence, I used that as an example during my conversation with media. However, it has been completely misconstrued which is saddening to see. As someone who has been a staunch believer of ‘Bhagwan’ myself, there is no way that I would intentionally or unintentionally say or do any such thing that would hurt sentiments by and large. I have, however, come to understand that when taken out of context, it has unintentionally hurt feelings of people. Please be assured that it has never been my intention to hurt anyone, with my words or actions. Hence, I would like to humbly apologise for the hurt that my the statement has unintentionally caused to a lot of people.