'She sleeps around to get roles'

'She sleeps around to get roles'
07th Mar 2006 23.00 IST
By Nikhil Kumar

Hrishitaa Bhatt 's forthcoming movie attempts to bring to light the seldom-spoken truths from the underbelly of Bollywood by exposing the proverbial casting couch.

Now and then, a controversy erupts from the underbelly of our tinsel town exposing the ugly truth that girls are sometimes exploited sexually in return for promises of movie projects.

In this Friday's release, Jigyaasa , Hrishitaa plays one such character of a middle-class girl who harbours a dream of acting in Bollywood, but realizes that fame comes at a dear price.

In the movie, Hrishitaa plays the protagonist Jigyaasa Mathur, who comes from a family with very strong morals. But when Jigyaasa tries her luck in Bollywood, she comes to know that apart from acting and talent, sometimes what counts more for success is a girl's willingness to give in to indecent demands of influential producers and celebrities.

Despite her morals, the helpless Jigyaasa gives in and becomes a victim of casting couch. She is sexually exploited. But then she does a turn around and decides to avenge those who exploited her.

Undoubtedly a hard-hitting subject, 'Jigyaasa' is about the dark sides of film industry.

A media report quotes Hrishitaa as saying about her role: "She (Jigyaasa) is an innocent girl who wants to get her foot in the Bollywood door at any cost. Soon she learns that she can get her break only by sleeping with certain people. She takes the step and sleeps around to get movie roles. But then there is a transformation in her character and she becomes a girl who vows revenge."

Hrishitaa says she could not identify with her character at all in the movie as she personally would never take such a step in real life. Yet, she gave her best to the character.

'Jigyaasa' will release on March 10. The movie stars Varsha Usgaonkar as Hrishitaa's mother. Faisal Saif is the film's director.