Friday, January 8, 2010

Casting Couch... Have a seat...

Gay casting couch victims of Bollywood

We all have heard of casting couch practice in Bollywood & fashion industry. It is no more surprising or shocking. If you don’t have family connections or some godfather in film industry you cannot succeed.

Only way you can go up is by accepting the sexual demands or favors asked by big actors & directors.It has been alleged that many A-list heroines have gone through casting couch.

The rumor has it Ash, Rani, Preity have all been victims of casting couch. The tape released by India Today in Shakti Kapoor Casting couch case, Shakti Kapoor was shown saying that all the big actresses have slept with big directors to get good roles. He named Rani,

Ash & Preity.Now a new trend has crept up in industry & that is gay casting couch. People asking favors from male aspirant’s in lieu of giving them a chance in the film.

Well now with homosexuality being legalized & industry being populated by gay people, such instances have started occurring & coming in light more often.

For the first time gay couching case came to light with Sonu Nigam. The war between Sonu Nigam and Jha came out in the public when Jha started writing against the singer very often in various leading newspapers.

Sonu Nigam said in an interview with the news channel that he received many sms of Subhash K Jha asking for sexual motives.

Sonu Nigam said "There was a time when women were under constant sexual subjugation but now it’s the turn of the men to bear the brunt".

Sonu Nigam alleged Subhash K Jha of sexually harassing him.After this instance many models came out & related similar instances.

Model and actor Aryan Vaid boldly agreed to talk about his experiences. "I have been propositioned by one of Bollywood's biggest directors. I have been offered money to sleep with politicians by one of the biggest ever producers in Bollywood.

These things keep happening but no one forces you in the industry," he says. The director in question is famous for his top star cast and his movies almost always have an international element to them.

Dale Bhagwagar, who is publicist to the likes of Shilpa Shetty and Hrithik Roshan, says: "When people are in a position of power a world of opportunity is open to them. With beautiful people around, the couch is just another pleasure trip that many choose to take."

Next one to relate his experience was Sonu Sood.“I still remember how a model coordinator approached me and kept calling me till I told him I was not his cup of tea”, said sonu Sood, who played Abhishek Bachchans elder brother in Yuva and a parallel lead with Emraan Hashmi in Aashiq Banaya Aapne.

He played Aishwarya Rai's brother in Jodha Akbar.

Nigar Khans husband and actor Sahil Khan (who debuted in hit movie Style) was also approached by another coordinator during a party and promised a lead role if he compromised.

Model Sameer Soni who debuted with China Gate records an interesting instance "I have been propositioned but I have never been through it (the casting couch). He also worked in movies like Fashion & Baghban.

Such offers are often made by middlemen who just try to exploit the situation. In my case, someone threatened to ruin me but ultimately turned out to be a no body."

Many aspiring actors and models have had to engage in same sex activities with directors, model coordinators, fashion designers, producers and other Bollywood bigwigs in exchange for prominent roles.

While many in the industry continue to deny its existence, models Aashish Chaudhary and Rahul Dev, fashion designers Ravi Bajaj and Manish Malhotra and film columnist Bharati Pradhan have told media of the ubiquity of the gay casting couch.

Marc Robinson a model turned actor has suggested that many of the industry bigwigs like Shahrukh Khan, Karan Johar, Mahesh Manjrekar and Sanjay Leela Bhansali might be involved in gay relationships referring to their "proximity to male friends".

TV artist Pankaj Sharma aka Bobby Darling was also been accused of sexual harassment by model Surjit Jagdish Singh. The actor had said that Bobby Darling promised him a few roles in return for sexual favors.

World class designer Rohit Bal has a different take on the whole casting couch issue. According to Rohit , of course there is a casting couch but it's always the other way round.

Which means he's not propositioning anyone, it's the aspiring models who offer (more like throw themselves at him - I've seen it) their services and more in the hope he'll give them a break on the ramp.

Arjun Ramphal in an interview said that the question about casting couch has been asked billions of times. “Let me tell you, that I never succumbed to any such pressures.

Success doesn’t come easy, so obviously like the female casting couch there is a male casting couch”.So it is nothing surprising or out of way for him.

According to many people it’s the price you have to pay for fame, name & money. If you have to succeed you have to this price & make small sacrifices.

The interesting thing to note is that whenever a person is asked about casting couch he accepts that it is present but at the same time denies succumbing to it. If all the people who made to the top denied it or didn’t succumb to it then why does it even exist in the industry?

http://movies.indiainfo.com/article/091028170916_gay_couch/489012.html

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