Even as the casting couch controversy continues to rock film industries and occasionally the Indian parliament, some actors are going on record to talk about the issue. In a BBC World News upcoming documentary Bollywood’s Dark Secret, actors Radhika Apte, Usha Jadhav and Kalki Koechlin have opened up to Rajini Vaidyanathan to talk about some of the unwelcome proposals they have received at their workplace. Farhan Akhtar and director Aruna Raje also talk about harassment in the film industry and the #MeToo movement.
“Some people are regarded as gods. They are so powerful that people just don’t think that my voice is going to matter, or people think that if I speak, probably my career is going to get ruined.”Radhika Apte, Actor
Commenting on the #MeToo campaign in Hollywood, Radhika said: “The way the women, and the men of course, came together and decided that as a team we are not going to let this happen, I wish that could happen here.”
Usha Jadhav, whose performance in the Marathi film Dhag won her a National Award for Best Actress, shares how in a conversation she was told she would need to give something in return for the work opportunity she had been given.
“I said something as in what? I don’t have money. He said no, no, no, no it’s not about money, it’s about that you need to sleep with, maybe it can be a producer, maybe it can be a director, it can be both too.”Usha Jadhav, Actor
(Bollywood’s Dark Secret will air on BBC World News this weekend on Saturday 28th April at 12.40pm IST and on Sunday 29th April at 1.40pm and 3.40pm IST )
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)