Saiyami Kher admits facing casting couch in Telugu film industry; was asked to ‘compromise’ by a female casting agent: ‘I was 19 or 20’

Sharing how she handled the situation and shut down the casting agent, she said, “So I said, ‘Ma’am, I’m not understanding what you are saying.’ I kept repeating that. And then finally she said, ‘See, you have to understand.’ So I said, ‘I’m sorry that you feel that I’m someone who needs to go down this route. There are certain limits that I have never crossed in my life.’ So yes, I have experienced it once, but it was just that one time when a woman actually asked me this.” Saiyami has worked predominantly in the Hindi and Telugu film industries. She made her Hindi film debut with Mirzya and was last seen in Sunny Deol’s Jaat.

Earlier, another Bollywood actor, Fatima Sana Shaikh, shared a similar experience she faced in the South film industry. Fatima had said, “He asked me, ‘You will be ready to do everything, right?’ I told him that I will be working hard and will do what is required for the role, but he kept saying that and I played dumb because I wanted to see how low can he get.”

The Dangal actor had also revealed that she saw the casting couch being discussed very casually and openly among producers in the South film industry. “We were in a room, and the producers would talk about it very openly, giving indications that you have to meet people. They wouldn’t say it outright, but it was clear what they meant,” she explained.