Was asked to strip: Zeeshan Khan shares casting couch experience
Television actor Zeeshan Khan, who recently took part in the inaugural season of Bigg Boss OTT, recalled his casting couch experience at an interview Saturday. Recalling how a casting director from a "really nice production house" asked him to strip during a meeting, Khan also shared how he dealt with the situation. The cine world has been long plagued by this horrible practice.
The actor wasn't even newbie but 'semi-known' at that point
The Kumkum Bhagya-fame star had appeared on Zoom's show By Invite Only, hosted by Renil Abraham yesterday. Apart from sharing various fun life stories and relationship status, Khan revealed his journey in the world of glamor has not been without unpleasant experiences. The actor revealed he was "semi-known" at that point when he got called by the casting director for a "college baddie" role.
He was asked to strip to showcase his physical fitness
Khan recalled the casting director saying he wanted to see how physically fit he was, asking him to take his T-shirt off. "I was like, 'Okay, I am cool with that.'" But Khan did not like the situation when the CD wanted to see his legs, citing "a lot of people work only on their upper body and not their lower body."
'I still want to work [but] I will give audition'
When he clarified he was not comfortable with this, the casting director apparently told him, "Ab toh samajh hi gaya hoga tu [You must have understood by now]." Khan then said he wasn't "one of those people" and he "will give an audition, I would love to work with you and I still want to, I am not bothered about all of this."
He said he didn't feel 'offended' at being propositioned
Reiterating that he isn't one to feel "offended" after they are propositioned, the actor said he would rather say: "I understand your feelings but I don't want to do it, so can we just focus on the professional part of it and move on?" Before his stint inside the Bigg Boss house, Khan made headlines for trying to catch a flight in his bathrobe.
Despite several protests, casting couch has refused to die down
Previously, many stars—Ayushmann Khurrana, Prachi Desai, Isha Koppikar, Elli AvrRam—have spoken of similar experiences. Back in 2018, Tollywood actress Sri Reddy had protested against the practice by going nude publicly and that had shaken the Tollywood film industry but permanent solutions elude us to date.
