Usha and Radhika opened up about the practice of casting couch and the dark side of Bollywood. Both the actors have spoken out in a new documentary over their anxieties about sexual harassment in cine world and fears that victims are too scared to come forward.
In the BBC World News report which will be aired over this weekend, Radhika and Jadhav are among those who have opened up about the evil culture of casting couch and other sexual favours the actors have to face.
This is what Radhika Apte tells BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan in the documentary titled Bollywood's Dark Secret, "Some people are regarded as gods. They are so powerful that people just don't think that my voice is going to matter, or people think that if I speak, probably my career is going to get ruined,"
On the other hand, award-winning Marathi actress Jadhav reveals that it is common for powerful men in the film industry to demand sexual favours from the actresses.
She also shared an incident, where she described one conversation, where she was asked to give something in return for the opportunity to act in a movie. I said something as in 'what? I don't have money'. He said no, no, no, no it's not about money, it's about that you need to sleep with, maybe it can be a producer, maybe it can be a director, it can be both too, she said.
The issue of casting couch recently made headlines after Telugu actress Sri Reddy accused some prominent personalities in Tollywood of sexually exploiting her on the pretext of giving her work. She also stripped her clothes in front of Telangana Film Chamber of Commerce office in Hyderabad protesting the alleged exploitation.