Surveen Chawla breaks silence on casting couch trauma and the cost of saying ‘no' in Bollywood: 'It was crazy'

Time of India

6 days ago

In a candid conversation with Sidharth Kanan, actor
Surveen Chawla
opened a window into the darkest corners of her professional journey—one overshadowed by the
casting couch culture
that nearly drove her to quit the industry altogether. What she endured was not just rejection, but a pattern of systemic gatekeeping that punished integrity and rewarded silence.
"There was a time when it was all about the casting couch," Surveen admitted during the interview, her voice laced with a raw honesty that left no room for romanticizing Bollywood's glitzy image. 'It was just filthy, dirty to even step out. I was like, you know what, I don't want to do this anymore.'
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'It Was Almost Like the Casting Couch Was Trending'
For Chawla, now 40, those early years were not just about auditions and ambition—they were about surviving a culture that made exploitation feel almost institutional. 'It was almost like the casting couch was trending,' she said bluntly, as quoted in her
Sidharth Kanan interview
. Each time she stood her ground, it cost her dearly. Offers disappeared. Roles slipped away.
'There was rejection every time I had the audacity to say no,' she added. 'It was crazy.'
For a time, she considered disappearing entirely. 'I felt like I had hit the end of the road,' she shared. 'I would prefer to lie low and give up, because that just wasn't my thing.'
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And yet, she didn't.
From TV Darling to Cinematic Powerhouse
Surveen's career began with popular television serials like Kahiin To Hoga and Kasautii Zindagii Kay, where her talent quickly made her a household name. But transitioning to cinema meant entering a space where talent alone wasn't always enough.
Despite the setbacks, she carved out a distinctive space for herself in regional and
Hindi cinema
. From Punjabi blockbusters like Dharti and Taur Mittran Di to bold Bollywood choices such as Hate Story 2 and critically acclaimed performances in Parched and Ugly, Surveen proved she was here to stay—on her own terms.
She has also worked across multiple languages including Tamil (Moondru Per Moondru Kadhal), Telugu (Itlu Prematho), and Kannada (Paramesha Panwala), displaying range and resilience in equal measure.
Her
web series
work—from Sacred Games to
Criminal Justice: A Family Matter
and Rana Naidu—has further cemented her versatility, and her next release, Mandala Murders, is slated to premiere on Netflix on July 25, 2025.