TMF: Saiyami Kher On Casting Couch, “I Was Told To Compromise For Work”
This is so sad!
Many actors in the past have often talked about the dark side of Bollywood, and the realities of casting couch. And talking about her journey in Bollywood so far, and if she was ever a victim of such unpleasant experiences, actress Saiyami Kher said it all in the newest episode of Hauterrfly’s The Male Feminist with host Siddhaarth Aalambayan. The actress briefly spoke about her entry into Bollywood, and her debut film Mirzya, opposite Anil Kapoor’s son–Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor.
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Talking about her relationship with Bollywood, the actress told how she was never allowed to watch films up until the age of 13. But destiny seemed to have a different plan. While her first film failed at the box office, Saiyami expressed how she processed the failure mentally. She says, “We had so much fun while shooting the film. I mean, Rakeysh (Omprakash Mehra) sir is still a family. I still go to his home once a month to have a meal. He is still family. But my biggest takeaway from the film was my relationship with Gulzar sahab.”
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She further adds how there were so many things that she learnt from that experience. But she never realised how difficult that failure would be eight months after the film. She mentioned, “See, I am not a filmy kid, so I had no idea if a film fails to work at the box office, this is what happens. Later, I was signed for two films, and those people did not answer my agent’s calls and I was randomly just ignored.”
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She also adds how so many people, some relatives, and friends who were excited before the release, just vanished after the film didn’t do well. She explained how a Friday can change your life in Bollywood. This also helped her gain a lot of clarity about who her real friends are, and who is a family then.
Taking host Siddhaarth through some of her unpleasant experiences in the film industry, and if casting couch still exists in Bollywood, she mentioned, “From the time I entered till today, such incidents continue to happen.” Kher also mentioned, when she was starting out her journey in Bollywood, there were so many people who would advise her to get a lip job done, and how she would just smile away to ignore.
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She also talked about a phase in her career, when sadly, women would call up and suggest to compromise to get the role. Kher explained, how these women would say “hey, so, everything looks great, they really liked your audition. But you will have to compromise.” To which Saiyami would play dumb, and inquire what exactly were they trying to communicate. She explained, how the woman on the call got a little awkward and constantly asked her to just understand what she was trying to say. Responding to which Saiyami said, “listen ma’am, there is nothing against people who would want to go to any level to get work because may be they are so desperate for it. But I am not in that place. Fortunately, financially or otherwise also.” She adds, “So, yes there have been those instances also when I was starting off.”
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Also Read: ‘The Male Feminist’ Ep 9: Divyanka Tripathi Shares Some Uncomfortable Truths About Casting Couch In The Entertainment Industry
Well, it is unfortunate how the idea of casting couch still remains pretty much present in the industry. And it is sad how newcomers in the business of Bollywood are quite often put through such tough situations, in the name of work.
Apart from Saiyami, many actors including Tisca Chopra, Ayushmann Khurrana, Ranveer Singh, and Surveen Chawla have openly spoken about the realities of casting couch in Bollywood.
Checkout the full interview here:
https://hauterrfly.com/entertainment/hautesteppers-tisca-chopra-casting-couch-bollywood-experience/
