Sophie Choudry recalls 'walking out of big things' after being asked to compromise: ‘You have to keep people happy'
British singer and actor Sophie Choudry, known for her roles in Bollywood films such as Shaadi No. 1, Pyaar Ke Side Effects, and Once Upon a Time in Mumbai Dobaara!, recently opened up about her experience with the casting couch in the industry. In an interview with Hauterrfly, Sophie revealed she was asked to "compromise" for a role and recalled how those early encounters shaped her career choices. (Also Read: Sophie Choudry reveals her 'funny' experience with ageism: I get messages telling me to 'act my age')
Sophie shared, "I first and foremost came as a singer. I already had 2–3 hit albums. And of course, that itch was definitely there to try a bit of acting as well. I did meet a few people. Some very nice people and some people who made the kind of remarks that I was personally not very comfortable with. From whatever I understood, my mom jokes about it now that when we first came here, people used to tell us, 'you'll have to adjust, compromise'. So we didn't understand what they meant. My mom used to think, Yes, my daughter is very hardworking and will work 15 hours if you need her to."
She further revealed that she 'walked out of pretty big things' because of this and added, "There's this perception that when you come from abroad, you are easy. So it's kind of like, 'one more won't make a difference to you,' Like you don't even understand what they are talking about. And then it's spelt out in a slightly more detailed manner that you have to keep such and such happy. The best is when they say, 'I want to meet you more, know my potential heroine more,' or 'Oh my marriage is going through a bad patch, and I want to spend time with you because I really connect with you.' All this rubbish and then you realise he'll never make the film and he is just wasting my time."
Sophie began her singing career at the age of 12 and went on to deliver several hits including Habibi, Le Le Mera Dil, and Babylove. She moved to Mumbai in 2003 and became a VJ for MTV India, gaining popularity as the host of the show MTV Loveline. She made her Bollywood debut in David Dhawan's Shaadi No. 1, which starred Sanjay Dutt, Fardeen Khan, Zayed Khan, Esha Deol, and Soha Ali Khan. Over the years, she featured in a number of films and became known for her special dance numbers in movies like Shootout at Wadala and the Telugu film 1: Nenokkadine. Most recently, she appeared as herself in a special cameo in Love Sex Aur Dhokha 2.
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