Surveen Chawla On Disturbing Casting Couch Experience: "He Leaned In To Kiss Me, And This Was After I Got Married"
New Delhi:
Surveen Chawla is one of the few Bollywood actresses who has always been vocal about the dark side of the profession, be it unrealistic beauty standards or casting couch. Recently on The Male Feminist podcast, the actress once again spoke up about yet another disturbing casting couch experience which she faced after she got married.
She spoke about meeting a director at his Mumbai office, who well aware that she was newly married, leaned in to allegedly kiss her after the meeting. Expressing her shock at his audacity, Surveen said she had to push him away and walk off.
Recalling a separate incident, the actor shared how a National Award-winning South film director asked a mutual acquaintance to tell Surveen that the filmmaker wanted her to sleep with him during the course of a film shoot.
What
Surveen shared she has been subjected to many casting couch experiences, highlighting particularly one incident that happened after she got married.
Surveen told The Male Feminist, "I will tell you a tale about Mumbai's Veera Desai Road only. After the meeting at his office cabin, the director came to see me off at the gate, and this was after I got married. The strange thing was that we talked about this in the meeting also, he asked me how it was going and what my husband did, and it was just us speaking inside his cabin because he had a big office. So, when I came to the door to say bye, he leaned towards me trying to kiss me, and I had to push him back. I was startled and asked him what he was doing, and I just walked off."
Another occurrence was when a South film director relayed it to her through a mutual acquaintance that he wanted her to sleep with him during a film shoot.
In an earlier conversation with RJ Siddharth Kanan, Surveen got candid about the body-shaming trend in the film business.
She said, "It's like they make it their job to make you feel insecure. Your weight, your waist size, your chest size - everything is questioned."
Surveen Chawla's Filmography
Before predominantly working in Hindi and Punjabi films, Surveen started her journey with the TV shows Kahin To Hoga in 2003.
She made her Bollywood debut with Hate Story 2 in 2014. Her Kannada debut was Paramesha Panwala in 2008. She has also worked in the Tamil film Raju Maharaju and Telugu title Moondru Per Moondru Kadhal. Her Punjabi film credits include Dharti and Hero 'Naam Yaad Rakhi'.
Some of her most noteworthy projects include Parched, Hum Tum Shabana, Ugly, Sacred Games and s short film titled Chhuri.
Surveen Chawla's Upcoming Projects
Surveen's latest release is Criminal Justice season 4, also starring Pankaj Tripathi. She is now gearing up for Raina Naidu season 2, which will premiere on June 13, 2025.
In A Nutshell
Surveen put up a brave front recently when she spoke at length about her casting couch and body-shaming experiences in the film industry. She highlighted an incident with a director that left her stunned when he tried to kiss her despite knowing she was married.
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