Posted:
Written by Samrudhi Ghosh
New Delhi, October 27, 2017 | UPDATED 12:41 IST
With the Harvey Weinstein scandal making waves in Hollywood, actors are opening up about the existence of the casting couch in the Indian film industry as well. On a recent chat show, Vidya Balan talked about how she dealt with "sleazy predators".
"I come from a privileged background, so I always gave the vibe that I don't need this, I'm only doing this as a passion," the Kahaani actor said, adding that she never got too personal with people. "Maybe it's also a middle-class thing. If you smelt a rat, you'd rather keep away. That was my way of protecting myself."
Many questions have been raised about why the women who have been victims of such sexual advances remained silent. "You can't judge when women should speak about it or why they didn't speak about it earlier," Vidya said.
Sometimes, Vidya encouraged the women she knew had faced the casting couch to go public with their stories, but they "did not want to be known for this controversy". Not just this, they were also afraid of not getting any work if they broke their silence.
"I always thought that at that level with that kind of success, female actors in Hollywood would not keep quiet and tolerate sexual harassment. But maybe at that level you have more to lose or as much to lose," she said.
Vidya had never personally experienced the casting couch, but that was because she would walk away whenever she got a "vibe".
On the work front, the actor will be seen next in Suresh Triveni's slice-of-life comedy, Tumhari Sulu. The film will release on November 17.
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