Being an actress ain’t as easy as it looks. Beyond being beautiful, one has to know the tricks and trade of acting skills, which is what helps have a prolonged career in the cinema or soap operas.
Case in point, 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.
Several actresses in the Indian film industry have been a victim of sexual harassment. 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.
Bengali TV actor Rupanjana accuses filmmaker of ‘Sexual Harassment’
A few years ago, during an interview with Anandabazar digital, Bengali TV actor Rupanjana accused the popular Bengali filmmaker Arindam Sil. She revealed how the filmmaker behaved inappropriately with her after calling her in his Kolkata office for the reading of the script for a popular daily soap, ‘Bhumikanya’.
The actress told ABP digital, “He had called me in his office to read out the script of the first episode of Bhumikanya. It was a few days before Durga puja. Surprisingly there was nobody in his office when I reached there at 5 pm. I had an uncanny feeling. Suddenly he got up from his seat and started moving his hand over my head and back. It was only him and me in his office. I was feeling scared that I would probably get raped now and desperately praying for someone to enter the room.”
“After a while, I could not take it anymore and firmly asked him to speak to me about the script. He perhaps understood that I was not that kind of woman who would give in to his tricks. He suddenly entered the director mode and started explaining the script to me and within five minutes his wife entered the office,” she added.