Kangana Ranaut to Swara Bhaskar to Kalki Koechlin: 11 actresses who faced casting couch evil

Here are 11 Bollywood actresses who spoke about their casting couch and sexual harassment experienced by men of the film industry.

Ankita Lokhande: Recently, the TV actress revealed that she was been victim of the casting couch. Not just once, but she had faced casting couch twice. First, at the beginning of her career and second, when she was trying to make a transition from TV to films.

Tisca Chopra: The actress revealed an incident involving a top director at the early stage in her career. Chopra recalled the incident where she called the director ‘reptile-like’. 

Kalki Koechlin: She recalled an incident where a Bollywood producer under the pretext of ‘getting to know him’ asked her out for a late dinner, and if she accepted his invitation, he promised her a film. Kalki declined the offer, she later got to know the movie was never started or made. 

Kangana Ranaut: She had an arduous journey in Bollywood. Before getting a big break in films, she had an abusive relationship with actor Aditya Pancholi, when she was just 17-years-old. Kangana also faced casting couch. According to reports, she once revealed that in the film ‘Tanu Weds Manu’, she was asked to have sex after a meeting when the audition was over by a unit member.

Swara Bhaskar: She is very vocal about everything going in India, from farmer protest to nepotism. She has also raised her voice against instances of sexual harassment. The actress has too faced it and claims that she missed out on many films because she refused to compromise.

Swara also called out a director who harassed her for a role. She said, “He stalked me during the day and called me through the night. I was asked to go to his hotel room on the pretext of discussing the scene and would find him drinking.”

Swara advised all her counterparts and aspiring actresses in the industry that “Lose the part but don’t get on the couch.”

Surveen Chawla: When Chawla was shifting from TV to films, she faced the casting couch's horrible evil. The Parched actress mentioned that she has been lucky to have not faced it in Bollywood, but it is common in the South Indian film industry.

She said, “I feel very great that I have not encountered this (casting couch) here (Bollywood). I have faced this (casting couch) down south and of course, I refused to give into that…Honestly, I can only comment on it if I had encountered it in Bollywood. I don’t know if I should call it sheer luck.”

Payal Rohatgi: She had made shocking claims against Bollywood director Dibakar Banerjee. According to Payal, one-night Dibakar dropped by her apartment for a chat but later asked her to pull her shirt up, saying she had gained weight and that he needed to check. Payal was in shock by Banerjee's act and told him to leave her house, refuse to give in. Later she was informed that she is replaced from the film.  However, Banerjee denied the allegations made by Payal.

Sherlyn Chopra: The Kamasutra 3D actress accused the film producer of making sexual advances towards her. According to Chopra, the filmmaker asked her to rehearse the intimate scenes with him without cameras. The actress had later filed an FIR against him.

Radhika Apte: She recalled the horrors of being offered a role in a Bollywood film, on the condition of being 'okay sleeping with that person'. In an interview with a website, Radhika revealed that she knows many instances of casting couch and knew a number of people who have gone through it. She said, “You know I know also a lot of casting couch and I know a lot of people who have gone through it, I genuinely haven’t gone through it. See, I’m fortunate that I’ve never met people who have asked me to.”

Apte recalled once incident when one South Indian actor called her in his room, “I think once an actor in South called me on my room phone and tried to get flirtatious and I just was so rude to him. I think he fought with me later on. But anyway, I haven’t ever got a request saying that you have to sleep with us. Oh, once I got a call and they said ‘they’re doing this film in Bollywood and I want you to have a meeting with them. But would you be okay sleeping with that person?’ And I laughed! I said you’re so funny, you’re very funny and I said no I’m not. Ask him to go to hell.”

Mamta Kulkarni: Popular 90s actress Mamta Kulkarni had accused filmmaker Rajkumar Santoshi of casting couch during China Gate's filming. She claimed that the director had asked for sex as a compromise for the film.

Chitrangada Singh: The actress had a bad experience on the sets of the movie ‘Babumoshai Bandookbaaz’. It was not a direct casting couch request but an indirect demanding to do intimate scenes many time that made her feel objectified.

Chitrangada blames director Kushan Nandy for using foul language and forcing her to re-shoot an intimate scene and to prolong a kissing scene with Nawazuddin Siddiqui who starred alongside her.