Vidya Balan recalls 'scarring' casting couch experience

Actor reveals a film-maker once tried to enter her hotel room


Entertainment Desk August 27, 2019
PHOTO: FILE

Vidya Balan has spoken about her ‘scarring’ experience with the casting couch in the past. The Bollywood superstar, who most recently appeared with Akshay Kumar in Mission Mangal, recalled her past struggles in an interview recently, reported Hindustan Times.

“One day, I remember I was in Chennai and this director came to meet me. I said let’s sit in the coffee shop and he kept insisting that he wants to talk to me and that we should go to the room," Vidya said, recalling the incident. "I left the door of my room open and he left within five minutes. This incident suddenly struck me today, when I’m talking about this.”

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She added, “Someone wrote, ‘Dress like this? She has no business getting out; she should stay indoors.' That had affected me so much that for the longest time, I would get dreams about it and get really angry. Today, I don’t let the noise get to me.”

Vidya also spoke about the time she signed 12 Tamil films, but ended up getting replaced in each one of them because the agreements had been verbal, and not written. “My parents flew to Chennai and spoke to the producer, who showed clips from the film and said, ‘Look at her, does she look like a heroine'?”

The Parineeta starlet admitted that the experience made her ‘feel like s**t’ and she didn’t look in the mirror for what felt like six months, thinking she was ugly. Vidya also admitted that she found it difficult to forgive the man who had said these things but can honestly say that she has now.

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