Isha Koppikar is an popular Indian actress, model and politician who has featured in Bollywood films, along with Tamil movies too. In fact, she also featured in several Telugu, Kannada and Marathi films.
Koppikar also competed in the 1995 Miss India contest, clinching the Miss Talent Crown. Moreover, her modelling work helped her earn an entry into the film industry and to her first film appearance in the Telugu movie W/o V. Vara Prasad in 1997.
Meanwhile, the actress revealed that she faced casting couch. Sharing one particular incident, Isha disclosed in an interview to Bombay Times that in the mid-2000 a popular producer called her and asked her to “be in the good books of the hero”
“I called up the hero, who asked me to meet him alone. At that point, he was being accused of infidelity, so he asked me to visit him minus my staff,” shared Isha.
She called the producer and stated that she is here due to ‘talent and looks and if that can get me good work, then it’s good enough’. Isha Koppikar confessed, “I was thrown out of the film.”
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.