'They Go Down On Their Knees And Say Let Me Touch You': Actor Ankit Gupta On Casting Couch
From Kangana Ranaut to Ranveer Singh, almost all actors have opened up on the casting couch. It's a reality. Last year,?Shama Sikander had said that it exists in every industry. For those who don't know, the term is referred to the practice of people seeking work in films or plays being expected to give sexual favours to the casting director.
Not only women, but even men go through this.?
Ankit Gupta, the Indian actor and model best known for his work in TV show Udaariyaan, recently opened up on being subject to casting couch.?
"I have met such people. They would go down on their knees and say, at least let me touch you. That's it, nothing," he said.?
He said that actors are told that "Everybody does it" and this is how you get work in the industry. "Tu abhi nahi karega, 2-3 saal baad ayega, phir kahega aab kar lo, mein nahi karunga.?(You are not doing it right now, but you will return after a few years and agree to do it then.)?You don¡¯t wanna waste 2-3 years," he told Pinkvilla.
Previously, Ranveer Singh had shared his own casting couch ordeal with the international magazine Deadline and said, "This guy calls me to this seedy place and is like, 'Are you a hard worker, or a smart worker?'. I didn't consider myself to be smart, so I said: 'I think I'm a hard worker.' He was like, 'Darling, be smart, be sexy'. I had all those kinds of experiences during those three-and-a-half years, and I think it was that period that makes me value the opportunities I have now."
Not just Ranveer, even Ayushmann Khurrana had opened up on being asked for sexual favours when he was struggling to get acting roles in the movies.
He said,?"In fact, I have been through that initially when I was part of the industry. I was a TV anchor, so a casting director directly told me that I would have to do it. So, I told him that if I was not straight, I might have given it a thought, but I couldn't do it. So yeah, the casting couch exists, but eventually, it's your talent or potential as an actor or performer that would last. You don't need to give in to such stuff."
Meanwhile, Ankit Gupta who made his debut with Balika Vadhu is also known for his role as Parth Kashyap in Sadda Haq and Garv Priyom Thakur in Begusarai among others.
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