The Ugly Truth: Bollywood’s casting couch stories

Shakti Kapoor

One of the leading news channels carried out a sting operation to expose the casting couch menace persisting in the Bollywood Industry and their subject was Shakti Kapoor. The news channel planted a starlet to whom Shakti Kapoor made advances by promising to give her some work and all of this was taped by the channel. In his defense, Mr Kapoor said ‘She… sweet-talked me into meeting her. Any man would fall for this!” Shakti Kapoor's daughter Shraddha Kapoor was 16-year-old when the sting operation had happened. When the actress was asked about it in an interview, she said, “It did upset me and I did cry. I was younger then and did not know how to filter information. It was a moment we had to all be together. I know that I was most upset with the way people were talking about him. He is my father at the end of the day. And the way I know him and my family knows him, nobody else does. I get most affected if someone talks about my near or dear ones, including my friends or my dog.”

Preeti Jain -Madhur Bhandarkar

For a very long time, 'Fashion' director Madhur Bhandarkar was mired in a legal case filed by an actress Preeti Jain. Reports suggest that in the year 2004, Preeti Jain filed a case against the director and claimed that Mr Bhandarkar raped her several times on the pretext of casting her in one of his films. Though in the year 2011, the court announced the allegations levied on the director to be false, this case has been registered as one of the famous casting couch stories in the history of Indian Cinema.

Raja Mukerji

Rani Mukerji's brother, Raja Mukerji, was arrested when Pooja Mishra filed a case against him for molesting her. Pooja had apparently paid a visit to Raja to discuss a film for which she wanted to cast Rani Mukerjee and that's when Raja tried to molest her in the car.

Geetika Tyagi

‘One by Two’ actress Geetika Tyagi accused director Subhash Kapoor for sexually molesting her. A video had made it to the internet wherein we could see Geetika slapping Subhash after the director accepted his crime. The video went viral on the net and a case was filed against him.

Mamta Kulkarni

90’s sensation Mamta Kulkarni was indeed a gutsy actress who then accused director Rajkumar Santoshi of indecent behaviour. It was during the shooting of her film ‘China Gate’ in 1998 that she caught limelight with these allegations that she charged against the director. She claimed that the director wanted to get fresh with her but, she rejected his proposal.

Subhash Ghai and Rina Golan

Israeli Model, Rina Golan accused Subhash Ghai for indecent behaviour. In her book, ‘Dear Mr Bollywood: How I Fell In Love With India’, Rina has revealed that Subhash Ghai once tried to take her to the bedroom during her struggling days. “I want you to trust me and surrender to me completely. I will take you around with me everywhere and you will see how your life will change,” is what Rina has quoted in her book with reference to Subhash Ghai.

Dibaker Banerjee and Payal Rahtogi

Payal Rahtogi shocked one and all when she accused the 'Love, Sex aur Dhokha' director Dibaker Banerjee for trying to take advantage of her in the barter of a role in his next film. Later in one of his interviews, Dibakar clarified, "Payal called me around March this year. She told me she wanted to do meaningful films. I met her at the business centre of a 5 star hotel and told her she would have to give a screen test. Her messages conveyed her intentions. I told her if I wanted to cheat on my wife, I would have had an extra marital affair with a non-star. Just for casting someone in my film, I don't need to have a physical relationship with the person and go against my principles."

Sunny Leone

Sunny Leone, who is trying to make a position amongst the Bollywood’s A-lister, was also a victim of casting couch. Many reports suggest that a film producer wanted to spend some cosy time with Sunny Leone but, the lady didn’t agree to do so and hence, the producer approached Sunny’s husband Daniel Weber to convince Sunny to spend a night with him. Sunny and her husband made it very clear to the producer that his wish is never going to come true.

Aman Verma

Aman Verma, who came to Bigg Boss to overcome his ugly past, rose to limelight when a recording of his, was released by a news channel. In this recording, Aman Verma can be heard conversing with a female who is willing to spend a night with him in return of work.

Surveen Chawla

While we have heard a lot of casting couch stories in Bollywood, ‘Hate Story 2’ actress, Surveen Chawla revealed that she didn’t face any such thing in Bollywood. But, she faced the casting couch issue in South film industry. In an interview, when she was asked if she ever faced casting couch issue, she said, “Oh ya! But surprisingly not in Bollywood. It came from the South industry. I haven’t seen the bad side of Bollywood yet. It seems like I have had some protective forces around me.”