“Male Actors Started Taking Liberties With Me”: Mallika On Casting Couch In Bollywood

Right from Neena Gupta to Kishwer Merchant, time and again actresses have opened up about instances of sexual harassment they’ve had to face. This time it is Mallika Sherawat who opens up about casting couch in Bollywood.

HT reports her saying, “I haven’t faced it directly… My rise to stardom, I was very lucky, it was very easy. I came to Mumbai, I got Khwahish and Murder. I didn’t have to struggle much. 

“But after the movies, because Murder was such a bold movie, and that kind of a bold image was established, a lot of male actors started taking a lot of liberties with me, and they said if you can be so bold onscreen, so you can be bold with us in person also,” she revealed.

She explains that they did not differentiate between the onscreen and offscreen persona. “So that is where I faced a lot of difficult situations, because I am a very strong woman, and I would tell the male actor, ‘I am sorry, I am not going to compromise’. I haven’t come to Bollywood to compromise, I have come here to make a career. That’s why they have never worked with me,” clarifies.

She reveals she was also shamed for her on-screen persona and doing ‘bold scenes’ whereas her male co-stars never were. HT reports her saying, “That’s what the patriarchal system is. It’s always the women who are always targeted, not the men. Not only in India, but that’s all over the world. Men walk away with everything, they can get away with everything, it’s like they (those who target) blame the woman for everything.

Mallika adds, “I don’t know why, but more so in India, I feel. I also think the society wasn’t evolved, people would think differently. But now, the media is very, very supportive, especially toward women, and even the society has evolved,” she signs off.

What do you think of her revelations? Tell us.

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