"a lot of male actors started taking a lot of liberties"
Mallika Sherawat has revealed how she managed to escape the casting couch during her Bollywood career.
The actress said that she had been very lucky with her rise to stardom and didn’t have to struggle that much.
However, she said her “bold” onscreen persona soon meant that many male actors tried to “take liberties” with her.
Asked whether she had faced the casting couch in the film industry, Mallika said:
“I haven’t faced it directly… My rise to stardom, I was very lucky, it was very easy.
“I came to Mumbai, I got Khwahish and Murder.
“But after the movies, because Murder was such a bold movie, and that kind of a bold image was established, a lot of male actors started taking a lot of liberties with me and they said if you can be so bold onscreen, you can be bold with us in person also.”
Speaking with entertainment outlet PinkVilla, she added that she stood her ground and did not compromise:
“They did not differentiate between the onscreen and offscreen persona, so that is where I faced a lot of difficult situations because I am a very strong woman, and I would tell the male actor, ‘I am sorry, I am not going to compromise’.
“I haven’t come to Bollywood to compromise, I have come here to make a career.
“That’s why they have never worked with me.”
It comes after Mallika previously made controversial comments suggesting that women put themselves in vulnerable situations deliberately.
She had said:
“All this happens when you put yourself in that position, I feel.”
“I didn’t go to Bollywood parties, I didn’t meet any producer or director at night in a hotel room, or at night in the office.
“I kept myself away, and I thought, ‘I’ll get what is destined for me’. I don’t need to do all these things.”
She made her Bollywood debut in 2003 with romance film Khwahish opposite Himanshu Malik before starring in her best-known film, Murder, which was inspired by the Hollywood movie, Unfaithful.
Mallika Sherawat soon became a successful actress and sex symbol within the industry.
She had revealed that she was judged by the media for performing bold scenes whereas her male co-stars were not questioned.
She last appeared in Booo Sabki Phategi, a 2019 Hindi horror-comedy web series created and produced by Ekta Kapoor for ALTBalaji.
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