Surveen Chawla Talks About Facing Casting Couch In South Indian Film Industry, Reveals ‘Waist And Chest Size’ Are Questioned
We’re all aware of the higher standards in terms of physique that exist in mainstream media that women are subjected to as compared to men. These double standards have seeped into and become a very integral aspect of our society. Not only in the media but I am certain that even you must have had so many personal experiences on nosy relatives or men commenting o your body and trying to push you to an unrealistic ideal resulting in you never being able to find satisfaction with what you see in the mirror. And despite body positivity now being a cause many embracing themselves, these ideals are still pushed upon women on-screen. Surveen Chawla candidly spoke about how women are objectified behind the scenes while casting.
Surveen Chawla opened up about her casting couch experiences as she talked about the amount of body-shaming that goes on behind the scenes in the South Indian film industry. She was allegedly warned that she wouldn’t get movie roles as she weighed 56 kilos! Like… what?
Also Read: 5 Thoughts That Popped Into My Head While Watching R. Madhavan And Surveen Chawla’s ‘Decoupled’ Trailer
In an interview with RJ Siddharth Kannan, Surveen Chawla got candid about these horrid experiences. When asked if she had experiences regarding her weight being questioned in determining if she would get roles she said, “So I was doing television and then I went for this first meeting. You know it’s their job to kind of get you in the space where you question yourself. And this happens to most women also where their appearance is questioned, their weight is questioned, what is your waist size is questioned, what is your chest size is questioned.” That sounds very worrisome! Surveen also went on to question the parameters are for casting.
What concerns me is this is just one experience that Surveen Chawla spoke of in the interview. For someone who has been in the industry for as long as her, this must have happened multiple times. And not only her but every woman who is in this industry. How can we blame women for being as concerned about their appearance as they are when society and media is the one that keeps perpetuating the idea that a woman’s value relies solely on her appearance?
