Fatima Shaikh Speaks Out On Casting Couch Experience, Netizens Ask Her To 'Name And Shame Them'

Fatima Sana Shaikh made her Bollywood debut with Aamir Khan's Dangal. In a recent conversation with Bollywood Bubble, the actress dropped some bombshell revelations about the casting couch in South films. A clip from the interview has now gone viral, and the netizens are not happy about the occurrence.

Fatima Shaikh shared her casting couch experience

Fatima Shaikh shared her personal experience in the South Indian film fraternity. She revealed that during a casting couch, she was asked if she was ready to do anything to get the role. She revealed that she tried ignoring him, but the agent kept bringing it up again and again. She stated:

"He asked me, 'You will be ready to do everything, right?' I told him that I would be working hard and would do what was required for the role. I played dumb because I wanted to see how low he can get."

Fatima further shared about the casting couch and how agents would openly talk about it. She recalled that as a young actor, she had hoped to secure a role in a South film because she thought it would help her enter the Hindi film industry. Sharing an anecdote from Anurag Basu's Metro...in Dino, the actress revealed that producers wouldn't say things outright but would imply them in strange ways. She stated, "'You have to meet people', or 'You have to do this and that.'" Sharing another anecdote from the Mumbai casting director, she revealed that they would exploit newcomers by demanding a cut from their earnings. 

Netizens ask Fatima Shaikh to name those who harassed her

Soon after Fatima Shaikh's interview, a discussion thread on Reddit started, and the netizens were not happy about the incident. They asked the actress to name those who were involved and shame them publically. One user stated, "Just name these publicly. Like if they didn't hold back from doing these things then the victim shouldn't hold back either. I read somewhere that fear of victims makes the abuser stronger." Another Redditor pointed out how the South film fraternity is far worse in terms of casting couch than Bollywood; the comment read, "South is far worse than Bollywood in term of Casting Couch and Nepotism, but Bollywood is a soft target and kinda woke, so it got highlighted easily."

The Redditors did not stop there. One of them penned, "I'm damn sure most of outside stars were being targeted like this asked to anything to get a role in movies." Another commenter made a comparison between Bollywood and Kollywood/Tollywood and stated, "No matter what, Bollywood is a much more respectable space for women than Kollywood/Tollywood. As much as Tamil and Telugu fans are happy to see Bollywood’s downfall, they treat women on their sets TERRIBLY. It is all about hero-worshipping there." A user shamed the casting couch and, in a long note, stated:

"There are some shameful bunch of people who use mediators in such shitty deals. Casting couch is such an ill practice where the asking person(mostly male) will look and come clean and the received end person(mostly girl) will be shamed. In film industry, they are business driven, they have zero social responsibility. We often hear these stories that movie actors and actresses don't get rent homes. There is very bad reputation even though everyone celebrates them on screen."

What are your thoughts on Fatima Shaikh's revelation?

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