Casting couch is something which has been happening behind the scenes and it is not at all a new concept rather it is as old as our civilization. People started noticing it very recently. Several actresses have been a victim of harassment in the Film Industry as well.
The casting couch is a practice of asking for sexual favours from a job applicant in exchange for a job in the entertainment industry, especially acting roles. The casting couch originally referred to physical couches in the casting office. This practice is termed illegal in the United States.
Male casting directors, as well as, film producers use the casting couch in a bid to extract sex from ambitious actresses in Hollywood, Bollywood and other segments of the cinema industry.
Time and again actresses have spoken up against the casting couch and harassment. Previously, #MeToo movement hit the headlines which exposed some popular names from several professional fields across the country.
When Vidya Balan encountered casting couch in Kollywood film industry
Vidya Balan is one of the famous actresses in the Bollywood film industry. She is renowned for her acting prowess and the hard parts she has taken on in the movies. She’s a well-known actress who’s fluent in six languages.
She is fluent in Tamil, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Malayalam, and English, which makes her a multilingual woman. She is the recipient of several awards, including a National Film Award and six Filmfare Awards.
The actress was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2014. Vidya also promotes humanitarian causes and backs the empowerment of women.
Notably, he is a member of the Indian Central Board of Film Certification and hosts a radio show. She is married to the film producer Siddharth Roy Kapur.
During an interview with Pinkvilla, the veteran actress added that her journey in the industry hasn’t been a good journey as she had to face hardships along with nasty experiences of casting couch.
“One day I remember I was in Chennai and this director came to meet me. I said let’s sit in the coffee shop and he kept insisting that he wants to talk to me and that we should go to the room. I left the door of my room open and he left within five minutes. This incident suddenly struck me today when I’m talking about this.”
About one incident that scared Vidya Balan, she said, “Someone wrote that ‘Dress like this, she has no business of getting out, she should stay indoors’. That had affected me so much that for the longest time, I would get dreams of it and get really angry. Today, I don’t let the noise get to me.”