Actress Surveen Chawla, who is known for starring in movies like Hate Story 2 and Sacred Games, opened up about the casting couch in the Indian film industry. In an exclusive interview with The Male Feminist with Siddhaarth Aalambayan, she shared a personal story she had on the topic. Surveen said that she has had many experiences with the casting couch while recalling one particular incident.
The actress recalled the time when she had auditioned for a movie for a Tamil National-Award-winning director. Surveen said that she gave the screen test for 12 hours for the movie. She had to learn, perform, and even change costumes for a Tamil monologue during the audition.
After the rigorous audition, when Chawla came back to Mumbai, she got a high fever. Since the director did not know how to speak in Hindi or Tamil, he had a mediator who was his best friend. “I would rather call him a pimp, because that is what he was doing,” Surveen said about the director’s best friend.
Surveen Chawla’s Casting Couch Experience
The director asked Surveen through the mediator if she wanted him to come to Mumbai to take care of her. Surveen did not process the comment as she was struggling with a high fever, so she did not understand what the director was trying to insinuate.
After more conversation, she gets a call from the mediator. The mediator told her on the call that the director wanted to spend more time with the actress. “This is when I started to sense something off.” Surveen shared. She then went on to tell how the mediator asked her to spend time with the actress only till the filming for the movie was happening.
After the mediator kept talking in circles, Surveen cut to the chase and asked the man if the director wanted to sleep with her. Surveen immediately refused by saying, “Sir, I am sorry but you are knocking on the wrong door, I am never in for bartering myself in exchange for work.”
She made it clear that she was not okay with this arrangement. Surveen told the mediator that if the director thinks that she has talent and potential, then she will work on the project; if not, then they can cast somebody else.
Surveen Chawla is currently starring in season 4 of Criminal Justice alongside Pankaj Tripathi.