Actress Surveen Chawla recently opened up about the dark side of the entertainment industry. In an interview with The Male Feminist, she recalled facing multiple instances of the casting couch and inappropriate behaviour, some even after she was married.Speaking of a disturbing experience that took place in Mumbai, Surveen shared how a director, despite knowing she was newly married, tried to kiss her after a meeting at his office on Veera Desai Road. “We had just spoken about my marriage inside his cabin — he even asked how my husband was doing. But as I was leaving, he leaned in to kiss me at the door. I had to push him away and just walked off, stunned,” she recounted.Unfortunately, this wasn’t an isolated incident. Surveen also revealed an experience from the South film industry, where a director, who didn’t speak English or Hindi, used a friend to communicate his outrageous demand, that she sleep with him during the shoot. The friend acted as a translator and relayed the inappropriate request, leaving the actress shocked.
In a previous interview with RJ Siddharth Kannan, the Haq Se actress recalled being body-shamed during auditions. She noted how women are often put through scrutiny that makes them question their self-worth. “It’s like they make it their job to make you feel insecure. Your weight, your waist size, your chest size — everything is questioned,” she said, adding that the criteria for casting often seem more fixated on appearance than talent.Surveen Chawla, who is known for her powerful roles in Sacred Games and Ugly, will next be seen in Criminal Justice: Season 4 alongside Pankaj Tripathi.
