Swara Bhasker shares her casting couch story: The man tried to kiss my ear

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Hindi film actress Swara Bhasker
Hindi film actress Swara Bhasker

Mumbai : Indian actress Swara Bhasker opens up about an incident of casting couch she faced in the Bollywood world. During her visit as a guest at the Express Adda on May 28, she talked a lot about her last movie Veere Di Wedding, casting couch in Bollywood and feminism among other things.

The #MeToo trend was spread like wild fire all over the world and many women and men came forward to share their harassment stories. The movement started after the Harvey Weinstein scandal came to light but while women all over the world were heading with their personal stories, actresses from Bollywood stayed tight-lipped about it.

When Swara was asked if she had faced the casting couch, she shared an anecdote where a man, who introduced himself as the manager of a big producer, kept asking Swara about her residential details. The meeting took a strange turn and Swara tried hard to get out of the meeting. As she got out of the meeting, the man tried to kiss her. Swara recalled, “When I got out this guy actually tried to kiss my ear and said ‘I love you baby’ and I kind of did that (gestures shirking away) so he got a mouthful of my hair so I was just like… so that kind of stuff happens. It’s all a part of casting couch, right?”

Swara, who received wide appreciation and awards for her supporting roles in Bollywood movies, also shared her thoughts about feminism during the show. She said, “Feminism is about a thought that there should be equality amongst the genders. And equality not just of representation but equality of opportunity and equality of accountability, which is something that not just women but a lot of communities in India have not had, whether it is caste, whether it is women. And for me, feminism is about giving women choice. So if some women choose to be conservative or choose to deny themselves their own rights, what can I say? I think it is completely legitimate to ask those women that why do they want to tie themselves down?”

Swara Bhasker was praised for her role of Payal in the romantic comedy Tanu Weds Manu Returns, a sequel to the 2011 film Tanu Weds Manu. She was last seen on the big screen in Veere Di Wedding.