Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan has reacted to a month-old video featuring BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj, in which she challenged Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to sing the full version of Vande Mataram while speaking about his call to “smash the patriarchy”. The actor’s brief response to the video has since attracted attention on social media.
Swaraj, a BJP MP from Delhi, made the remarks while responding to Gandhi’s comments during a ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ event in Pune. Gandhi had spoken about patriarchy and called on women to challenge social structures that, according to him, restrict their choices and roles.
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In the video, Swaraj said she was comfortable singing Christmas carols, singing Vande Mataram in its entirety and reciting the Shiv Tandav. She then challenged Gandhi to sing the complete version of Vande Mataram if he genuinely wanted to “smash the patriarchy”.
The remarks were later shared on social media by Ruchira Chaturvedi, Congress’s national convenor for social media and digital communications. The post had been online for about a month before Roshan reacted to it.
Roshan responded to the post with a short comment: “Huh? Is this real. Wow.” His reaction quickly drew responses from social media users, with several users referring to his film career and others commenting on the political exchange.
The episode stems from a wider political discussion that began after Gandhi addressed women and girls in Pune. During his interaction, Gandhi said women should not be confined to roles defined as daughter, wife or mother and argued that women should have the freedom to define their own place in society.
He also spoke about patriarchy and criticised what he described as a “Manusmriti mindset”. Gandhi argued that such social attitudes could restrict women and called for collective efforts to challenge them.
Swaraj’s response shifted the discussion towards Vande Mataram. The national song has a long association with India’s freedom movement and occupies an important place in the country’s national history. The song, written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, has also been the subject of political and cultural discussions over its verses and religious imagery.
The debate comes in a year marking 150 years of Vande Mataram. According to the report, the full version of the song was also played during the 80th Independence Day celebrations this year.
Roshan’s reaction has added a celebrity dimension to an exchange that originally involved two political figures and their differing approaches to the subject of patriarchy and women’s empowerment.
The actor has not elaborated publicly on his brief comment in the post cited in the report. The political discussion, meanwhile, continues to centre on Gandhi’s remarks about patriarchy, Swaraj’s response and the place of Vande Mataram in the broader debate.
