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 shared her dark experience in 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.
While speaking to Humans Of Bombay, Vidya Balan recalled an incident when she nearly suffered a casting couch experience with a filmmaker. “I’ve actually not really had a tryst with the casting couch. I’ve been very, very fortunate, because I’ve heard horror stories, and that was my parents’ biggest fear, because they were resistant about me joining films. But the one incident I had… I remember, on one of my films that I had been signed to do, I was meeting with the director because I was visiting Chennai for an ad film shoot.”
“I didn’t understand, because I was alone. But I did a very smart thing. When we went to the room, I left the door open. And then he knew that the only way for him was out. So, I don’t really believe that I’ve had an experience with the casting couch. There was no suggestion made, there was no proposition made. But this was a sense, a vibe I picked up. And I reacted to it. Self-preservation kicks in, and a woman’s instinct… And then I got thrown out of that film,” stated the actress further.