Anu Aggarwal reveals she hasn’t been paid 40% of her dues for Aashiqui yet: ‘That’s my gift to them, I earned more from modelling’

In the interview with Pinkvilla, Anu Aggarwal claimed that she was the first actor to become a brand ambassador. “There wasn’t even a male actor who was a brand ambassador back then. Only cricket heroes were brand ambassadors then, like Sunil Gavaskar and all,” said Aggarwal. “Theek hai yaar. Ye meri gift hai unko (It’s okay. This is my gift to them),” she added, referring to the makers of Aashiqui on her unpaid dues.

Agarwal, however, recalled that a lot of actors who came up to producers to ask for their dues back then were subjected to malpractices. “It was a dirty business. Today, I’m not in it. If I do a film now, I can tell you how dirty it is compared to back then. At that time, it was all under the table. It was ruled by people like Dawood Ibrahim. All the money that came into the industry came from the underworld. So it was a completely different scenario,” added Aggarwal.

The actor said that she didn’t have to face any casting couch experiences either. “My first film was with Mahesh Bhatt. He’s a personality, a filmmaker in his own right. I learnt so much from him. I had close relationships with all my directors. And there was no hanky-panky. There was no casting couch. My agent, two years down the line, was laughing and saying, ‘Anu’s got her own casting couch. When the director comes in, she says lie down.’ It’s just a joke (laughs),” said Aggarwal.

However, she admitted casting couch was a reality, just like in any other industry. “Where does casting couch not exist? What are you saying? Is there no casting couch in banks and corporate houses? Why are we pretending,” asked Aggarwal, adding, “At the end of the day, you should make it. It’s not bad. What’s bad is if you don’t use your full potential.”

Also Read — Anu Aggarwal recalls slapping Mehmood so hard that he started crying: ‘My character was a psycho’

Anu Aggarwal went on to do films like Mani Ratnam’s Tamil black comedy caper Thiruda Thiruda and Rakesh Roshan’s action comedy King Uncle in 1993. Her last film was Return of Jewel Thief in 1996.

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